I Dare You
by Lil Drop Of Magic
Summary: Rachel and Puck engage in a battle of wills that neither wants to lose. Slight AU. T for language.
1. Lessons Not Learned

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world

I know, I know. I shouldn't try and write two (actually three) stories at once but the idea for this came to me literally the minute I climbed into bed last night and I couldn't get it out of my head. It had to be done.

This is an AU because Quinn and Puck didn't sleep together for the simple reason that I didn't want to have to deal with that. This is set sometime after Rhodes but before Mash-up. Oh, and I totally stole two lines from 'Mash-up' so don't sue me.

Chapter 1: Lesson Not Learned

* * *

"Ok, guys," Mr Schuester said as he entered the choir room, "I've just got this new piece for us to try out that I think will give us a great chance of taking Sectionals."

He handed out the sheet music and frowned when he had one spare. He looked at the students to determine who was missing. "Where's Finn?" he -asked after spotting that the lanky youth was absent.

"He's sick," Finn's girlfriend, Quinn, provided.

"Yeah, he started chucking up in fourth period," Mike added.

"Er, thanks for the detail," Mr Schuester said, wrinkling his nose slightly. "But, if that's the case, then I'm gonna need one of you other guys to step up and take the male lead with Rachel on this one."

He looked hopefully at the five other male members of New Directions but they all avoided his gaze.

"It's out of my range," Kurt sighed dramatically and Mr Schue conceded that was true. Still, that left four others to take the spotlight…

There was an awkward pause as none of the other guys moved a muscle, hoping that if they didn't move, Mr Schue wouldn't call on them. Luckily, they were interrupted by Ms. Pillsbury knocking on the door.

"Will, could I talk to you for a minute?" she asked. Mr Schue excused himself and the two members of staff stepped outside.

Rachel Berry stood up from her seat and looked round at Mike, Matt, Artie and Puck in disapproval. "I am _shocked_ at the lack of leading man ambition in this room right now. With Finn's absence, one of you has the chance to really come forward and show us what you can do." None of the boys looked at her. "You don't need to be scared about performing to us, we're your friends."

Noah Puckerman looked up at her with a frown. "You think I'm scared to sing solo?" he asked.

"Well, I can think of no other reason why you wouldn't want to showcase your talent in front of your peers." Rachel reasoned. "Timidity seems like the culprit to me."

"Are you questioning my badass-ness?" he enquired, folding his arms across his chest, while other members of the Glee club laughed or rolled their eyes.

"While I disapprove of the word, I believe that a 'badass' would have the guts to sing male lead in a song, don't you?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips and tilting her head to look at him questioningly.

A couple of people let out long, 'oh's' and Mercedes said, "Damn, she's got you there, boy!"

Puck glared at Rachel. There was no way in hell he was going to let her practically call him a coward. Badasses were _not_ cowards.

"Ok, where were we?" Mr Schue asked as he came back into the room. "Ah, yes, the male lead. Any takers, guys?"

Puck raised his hand. "I'll do it." He said. Rachel smiled triumphantly at him and he had a nasty feeling in his gut that he'd just been played. Well, if she wanted him to partner her then he was just going to show her what a mistake she'd made.

"Great," Mr. Schue beamed at him and rubbed his hands together. "Let's get started then."

Rachel bounded to the front of the room and Puck dragged his reluctant ass there slowly.

"I think we should just give it a run through, no choreography and see how it plays out." Mr Schuester said and nodded at the pianist to start.

Puck glanced over at Rachel as the first few notes started to play. _You just wait, Berry. You don't know what you're messing with. _

Then he started to sing.

_How can I just let you walk away, __Just let you leave without a trace,  
When I stand here taking every breath with you, ooh  
You're the only one who really knew me at all_

He reached for her hand as he sang the first line and her mouth (along with several others) dropped open in shock. He held it against his chest and made sure he put the sappiest expression on his face. (Yes, it was a pansy-assed thing to do but the look on her face was totally worth it. Suck on that, Berry). She stumbled over the tune slightly as she took over the next verse and snatched back her hand.

_How can you just walk away from me,  
when all I can do is watch you leave,  
Cos we've shared the laughter and the pain and even shared the tears  
You're the only one who really knew me at all_

Ignoring the words of the lyrics, Puck walked towards her and she took some very quick steps back until she met with the piano and go no further. She looked up at him worriedly and he smirked down at her as they both began to sing together._  
_  
_So take a look at me now, cos there's just an empty space  
And there's nothing left here to remind me,  
just the memory of your face_.

He reached out with his right hand and placed it gently on the side of her face before stroking a finger down her cheek. She pushed his hand away and ducked under him to stand by the others.

_Just take a look at me now, well there's just an empty space  
And you coming back to me is against the odds and that's what I've got to face._

They both carried on singing as he followed her and she tried to place chairs and people in his way but he just pushed them aside until finally he caught her from behind, wrapped his arms around her and sung his verse.

_I wish I could just make you turn around,  
turn around and see me cry  
There's so much I need to say to you,  
so many reasons why  
You're the only one who really knew me at all_

He flipped her around to face him so she could 'see him cry' and he had to nudge her to get her to sing with him again.

_So take a look at me now, well there's just an empty space  
And there's nothing left here to remind me, just the memory of your face  
Just take a look at me now, cos there's just an empty space  
But to wait for you, is all I can do and that's what I've got to face_

He went on his knees and wrapped his arms around one of her legs, holding on tight. She gasped, fluffing her note and tried to shake him off but he wouldn't let go. He couldn't help but notice how soft and smooth her leg was under her skirt and he only just resisted the urge to move his hands higher. He doubted Mr Schue would allow that.

She tried to drag her leg away from him but it wouldn't budge under his iron grip. He was mildly impressed that she'd only screwed up one note despite his actions. There was only one bit of chorus left so he let go of her leg and she stumbled into Matt, (who was killing himself with silent laughter), before he stood up and held her to face him at arm's length.

_Just take a look at me now, cos I'll still be standing here  
And you coming back to me is against all odds  
It's a chance I've got to take.  
_

He tried to pour a load of emotion into the song. He wasn't very good at feelings and shit (and he was very proud of that) but he pretended that Berry was the most important thing in his life and sang as hard as he could. For the last line he joined his arms behind her back and pulled her against him. He bent his head towards her and sang the line softly with her.

_Just take a look at me now._

He was sure she thought he was going to kiss her; it probably looked that way but as the notes died in their throats he stood upright and pushed her away. She looked up at him doing a pretty average impression of a goldfish, while he crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at her. _Fuck, yeah._

"Well, that was interesting," Kurt said, eyebrow raised.

Mike slapped him on the back and gave him a high five. "Dude, you totally out-performed Rachel Berry!" he said, laughing.

Most of the others were laughing too but Santana looked like she was going to hurl.

"It wasn't really that difficult," Puck said, making sure to say it loud enough for Rachel to hear. She flushed angrily and looked away from him.

"That was _totally_ bad-assed," Matt agreed, "freaking Berry out like that. I don't think she's _ever_ gonna want to sing with you again."

Puck certainly hoped so.

"Right, well, that certainly was an, um, emotional interpretation," Mr. Schuester stammered, not quite believing what he'd just seen. "Let's, ah, work on the background singing first, shall we?"

The rest of the session wasn't nearly as entertaining as the first part. Puck decided that Berry had learnt her lesson; you didn't push Noah Puckerman into anything he didn't want to do unless you were prepared to face the consequences.

She came over to him when Glee was over and he packed up his stuff. He ignored her, hoping she'd go away. She didn't.

"I know you think you're pretty funny with that stunt you pulled earlier, but I'll have you know that I believe the time we spend seriously rehearsing in Glee correlates directly to our chances of winning at Sectionals." She huffed.

He stared at her. "And that means…?"

"I don't appreciate people wasting my time."

Puck rolled his eyes. "Please, if that had been Finn latching onto your leg, you wouldn't be complaining."

She flushed red. "That's not the point. Besides, I don't believe your performance was really all that 'badass' as you called it."

"Oh, and why's that?"

"You sang and acted in front of your friends. What's the big deal about that?"

"Ok, firstly, most of you guys aren't my friends," he pointed out and he saw her face fall slightly. _Good._ "And secondly, that was a more badass performance than anything you've ever done in your life."

She smiled at him. "I pretended to have sex with Finn while performing a song in front of the _entire_ school." He narrowed his eyes at her as his memory recalled her bouncing on Finn during their performance of _Push it._ "I win!" she exclaimed happily and turned away from him but he caught her wrist.

"Hell no, Berry. There's no way you're a bigger badass than me."

"Noah, it's ok. I understand that you don't have the guts to sing in front of the student body. It can be very intimidating for some people. We're not all born to be stars." She smiled at him in a way that made him feel two foot tall. To say he disliked that feeling would be a huge fucking understatement. He resisted the urge to growl like some sort of animal and he dropped her wrist.

"You think you know me so well, but you don't have a clue to what it's like to be a stud, like me."

She wrinkled her nose. "I really couldn't care less about you."

"Ugh, you really think you're better than me, don't you?" he snarled.

"Noah," she smiled at him in that annoying way again. "I'm really not the one with the problem; you are. You're just annoyed with yourself for your lack of courage amongst your peers. I'll tell you what; I'll give you a little push to move you forwards in a way that I don't think your ego will be able to turn down."

He frowned at her. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Noah Puckerman, I dare you to sing in front of the whole school."

Rachel Berry had obviously not learnt her lesson.

* * *

A/N: Sooo, hope you enjoyed. The song featured is 'Against All Odds' by Phil Collins. If anyone's heard the Mariah Carey/Westlife version I'd guess Puck/Rachel would sound a bit more like that but without Rachel hogging most of it!

Please let me know if you liked it so I can decide whether I want to write more.

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXx


	2. And So It Begins

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world.

Many thanks to my lovely reviewers. I will be responding to your reviews in due course, I've just been a bit busy these past few days.

Chapter 2: And So It Begins

* * *

Puck wondered to himself for the thousandth time why he was doing this and then (again for the thousandth time) he tensed as the mental image of a smug Rachel Berry flashed in his mind. He was not going to let that snobby little bitch get the better of him on this.

He followed a large number of the football players into the cafeteria for lunch. He could feel his heart racing and he felt like such a pussy. What the fuck was so scary about singing in front of a room full of people? He was a badass. He did not get scared. And when he looked down at his lunch and decided that he didn't want to eat it, he told himself that this was due to its disgusting appearance and _not_ because he would likely throw it up with nerves.

He checked the time and saw that lunch was nearly over. How the fuck had that happened? He was running out of time to get this done.

He resisted the very strong (and strange) urge to look at Rachel Berry. For some reason his eyes had located her position in the cafeteria the minute he'd walked in; she'd sat with some of the other Gleeks in the corner of the room. He had never noticed whether Berry was or wasn't present at lunch before and the fact that his eyes had subconsciously sought her out annoyed him greatly. He refused to look at her now because he knew that she'd see the nerves in his eyes (Damn it! Yes, ok. He was slightly nervous.).

He couldn't let her see his weakness; it would totally contradict the whole badassness that was about to occur. And, when this was all over he was going to make her pay.

*~*~* Flashback *~*~*

"You _dare_ me." He stated in a dead pan voice. "What the fuck, are you like _eight_, Berry?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "I know it's somewhat juvenile but it is widely acknowledged that the human ego is unlikely to shrink from a challenge submitted by one of their peers. Or do I have to introduce the incentive of being referred to as a 'chicken' to goad you into accepting?"

"Berry, do I look like a chicken to you," he gestured to himself and she smiled.

"Good, so you'll do it."

"On one condition."

"Which is?"

"You have to do one too."

She studied him for a few seconds and he felt a little uncomfortable (this was Crazy Berry after all, who knew what she was thinking).

"Ok," she agreed, nodding. "But, I think we should set a few parameters before we finalize things."

He shrugged, not really caring. "Whatever you say."

"First," she said, holding up her index finger. "My dare must not include anything that could get me expelled. I am not risking my future as a Broadway star on a childish game."

"Berry, this was your fucking idea –" he started before she carried on.

"Second, nothing sexual is to be involved. I will not kiss some random member of the student population or run across the football field naked."

Puck was momentarily immobilised as images of a naked Rachel Berry danced in front of his eyes.

"Third," his eyes snapped up to her head when he realised they had settled on her chest. "Nobody else's feelings must be hurt by my actions. Finally, no one else must be aware that we've entered a game of dare."

"Why not?" he asked.

"If you tell everyone you're only going to sing in front of them because of a dare then it kind of negates the purpose of the dare in the first place. They're supposed to think that you're singing of your own free will."

He frowned at her. "Can I tell them after you've pussyed out of your dare?"

"I suppose once the 'game' is over you can tell them you sang because you were under duress."

"So that's a yes?"

She raised her eyebrow. "Yes, it's a yes."

"Fine, I accept your stupid rules."

"Good. Now, about your singing, I suggest that you perform in the cafeteria during lunch tomorrow. I will let you chose your own song and you can have some sort of backing music if you wish. Only when you have sung for at least a minute and a half will your dare be complete, otherwise your attempt will be void."

"And what happens then?"

"I win," she stated simply.

"But what if I do mine and you don't do yours?"

"Then you win."

"And what do I get for winning?"

"Honour?" she shrugged at him.

"What?! Is that it?" Puck crossed his arms.

"Well, what did you have in mind?"

"I dunno, money, the contents of your locker –"

"Why would you want what's in my locker?" she asked in confusion.

"It's symbolic, Berry, of how I will _own_ you." He grinned at her.

She rolled her eyes. "If you come up with a worthy prize then I might consider it but until then we're just playing for the honour."

"Fine," he snapped at her. "But…wait. What happens if we both do our dares?"

She went to say something then frowned. "Oh, I don't know." They stood in silence for a moment. "Maybe we should wait to see what the outcomes of the dares are first," she reasoned.

"Sure," he said and then held out a hand.

She looked at him incredulously. "A hand shake, Noah, really?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who _started_ acting like they were in the 4th grade." He pointed out and she sighed.

"Fine!" She placed her hand in his to confirm the deal.

*~*~* Flashback *~*~*

Matt, who was sitting next to him, gave him a worried look. "Dude, are you all right? You've been dead quiet and you haven't touched your food."

"Yeah, man, I'm fine," Puck replied and winced when his voice came out a little higher than normal and Matt raised his eyebrows. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Dude, stop being a girl, I'm fine."

Mike turned into their conversation. "You're not coming down with what Finn's got, are you? Cos if you are then I'm outta here – I don't want your vomit on my new jeans."

Matt and Puck both gave him a disgusted look. "And you thought _I_ was acting like a girl," Matt chuckled.

Puck looked up at the clock in the cafeteria and groaned, causing Matt and Mike to look at him in concern and edge away slightly. He couldn't put this off any longer. Yes, most of his friends on the football team knew that he was a member of Glee club but he had made it an active effort not to flaunt it in their faces because dude, he wasn't stupid. He quite liked the way his face looked, thanks.

At least Berry had let him chose his own song; if she'd forced him to do some show tune or that stupid sappy song he'd sung yesterday then he doubted he'd ever live it down. He had spent a fair amount of time practicing his song last night until his mom had told him to 'shut the hell up' because his sister was trying to sleep.

He glanced at the clock and saw that two more minutes had passed. _Fucking hell, Puckerman just suck it _up, he told himself. He dug into his backpack and pulled out a pair of speakers and his iPod. Mike and Matt looked at him like he'd gone insane, especially when he pressed play.

As the guitar riff reverberated around the cafeteria, people whipped their heads around to see where the music was coming from. He sat nervously in his seat as the introduction took an _age_ to pass and then climbed onto his seat.

* * *

As she heard the music start to play, Rachel let herself smile a little. She was sure he'd wimped out.

"W-what's going on?" Tina asked, her gaze turned towards the source of the music, which turned out to be the football players' table.

"Is that Sweet Child O' Mine?" Artie asked, recognising the introduction.

Nobody replied as their mouths dropped open at the sight of Puck clambering onto his seat and beginning to sing.

_She's got a smile that it seems to me  
Reminds me of childhood memories  
Where everything  
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky_

Puck's voice rang through the cafeteria and Rachel had to admit that he sounded pretty good. As a student of the arts, she made sure she knew a wide range of music and so she was familiar with the song he had chosen. He'd found a backing track in a key that suited his voice more and he was only a little flat so far.

_Now and then when I see her face  
She takes me away to that special place  
And if I'd stare too long  
I'd probably break down and cry_

_Woah, Sweet child o' mine  
Woah, Sweet love of mine_

Rachel surveyed the expressions on the faces of the rest of the students in the cafeteria. A majority of them had open mouths but she couldn't tell whether they were pleasantly surprised or not. The rest of the football players on Puck's table (minus Mike and Matt) looked like they'd discovered Puck making out with their little sister. Needless to say, they didn't look impressed.

"I feel like I'm in an amateur production of _High School Musical_," Kurt sighed as Puck started up again.

_She's got eyes of the bluest skies  
As if they thought of rain  
I hate to look into those eyes  
And see an ounce of pain  
Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place  
Where as a child I'd hide  
And pray for the thunder  
And the rain  
To quietly pass me by_

Puck was about to launch into the second chorus when a red coloured missile flew across the room and collided with the back of his head, cutting him off. From what Rachel could see, it looked like someone's unwanted lunch. Other sports teams like the hockey and basketball players laughed while the football team looked embarrassed.

Rachel bit her lip. She felt only the tiniest bit of remorse that she had put him into this situation but there was a greater feeling of justice after all those times he had thrown a Slushie in her face. To say that she had concocted this plan just so that Puck would have a taste of his own medicine would be a slight stretching of the truth, but she'd known that there'd be a real possibility of someone throwing some sort of substance at him.

While she didn't feel exactly sorry for him, neither did she feel particularly happy which she thought she would. She supposed she was just too nice a person to feel happy about someone else's misery.

Puck showed the bird to the general direction of where the food had been thrown before pausing the music, gathering up his stuff and walking out of the cafeteria.

"Well, _that_ never happened to Zac Efron," Kurt breathed.

Mercedes shrugged. "I kinda wish it had."

* * *

Puck scrubbed the back of his jacket in the sink furiously, trying to get rid of the stain. "Stupid fucking Berry!" he growled when he reasoned that he'd done about as much as he could.

He was only slightly surprised that someone had had the balls to throw something at him, Noah Puckerman. Whoever it was, they were luckily he'd had his back to them because otherwise they'd be getting better acquainted with his fist.

But the worst part was he didn't know whether he'd completed her stupid dare. He wasn't sure whether he'd gone over her limit of singing for a minute and half or not. He knew he must've been pretty close.

He walked out of the boys' bathroom and went to throw his jacket in his locker, but there was someone standing there; the person he least wanted to see right now.

"Berry," he greeted stiffly, frowning down at her.

"I thought you sang well," she offered tentatively, giving him a wary smile.

"Your opinion doesn't account for shit in this school," he stated pushing her aside so he could get to his locker.

"You completed your dare, by the way."

He gave her a withering look. "Like I _care_," he lied.

"Look, I know that you're upset that someone took exception to your performance –"

"Save it, Berry. Badassess don't get upset." He informed her.

"Noah, I have been on the receiving end of a large number of um…food related incidents, and I know how horrible it feels."

Now, Puck knew that judging people's emotions wasn't his area of expertise but he thought that Berry was displaying what he thought was empathy and an idea occurred to him.

"Well, lucky for you, you can avenge my 'food related incident'," he said.

She raised her eyebrows at him. "How?"

"I dare you to Slushie a jock."

"What? That's ridiculous and it goes completely against our not hurting other people's feelings rule!" she pointed out.

"Jocks don't have feelings," he stated.

"Ugh," she said in disgust.

"How articulate of you, Berry. I thought expressing yourself clearly was something that you valued." He resisted the urge to laugh at her. Now that he knew that his stupid dare was done he was feeling slightly happier about this situation.

He thought that daring Berry to Slushie someone was a stroke of genius. He knew Rachel Berry. Although she was incredibly crazy and annoying, she prided herself on being a nice person. There was no way that she'd have the balls to throw the icy drink in someone's face. Plus, she was even less likely to throw one at a jock who could make the rest of her time at high school a fucking misery.

"Noah, I still think that it's insensitive to throw –"

"Berry, seriously, you think one of the hockey guys is going to cry?" he asked in disbelief. He knew perfectly well they wouldn't cry – more likely they'd play some variety of pranks on her 'til she graduated. "While they might be complete douches they're not going to care. Your dare is easy as piss compared to mine and for that reason I'm giving you 'til the end of the day to do it."

"But that's impossible, Noah; lunch is going to be over in a minute and I don't have any free periods before school's over!"

"Not my fucking problem, Berry." He stated, closing his locker and making his way to his next class.

He resisted the urge to look over his shoulder at the (no doubt highly pissed off) crazy girl. He doubted she'd do her dare, which was good because then he'd be able to admit to his friends that he'd only sung because Berry had forced him to. But, even if she did do it at least he'd be able to enjoy watching her suffering at the hands at some sports guys for the next couple of years.

He got some weird looks from the people in his next class and he tried to act like nothing out of the ordinary had happened at lunch time. He spent most of the lesson trying to think of what prize he should have asked of Berry for being the better player of 'dare' but when his mind kept turning to sexual favours he decided he'd better stop because that was totally and utterly fucked up.

The bell rang to signal the end of the lesson and he nearly groaned with relief. He decided to drop some stuff up at his locker and then he saw her. He was so surprised that he nearly dropped his books but he didn't because that was not in the slightest way badass.

She was looking over his shoulder and he turned to follow her gaze. There were a bunch of football players over there and Puck couldn't be happier with her choice. They would drive her insane with their revenge.

He looked back at her to see that she'd discarded the Slushie's lid and was making her way down the corridor towards the football players. He looked away from her to search his jacket for his cell phone so he could take a photo of the moment.

His hand had just closed on his phone when his world went purple. And _fuck_ that was cold.

He heard gasps and mutterings as his brain tried to comprehend just what the hell had happened.

"Forget _High School Musical_; we're in the God-damned _Twilight Zone_." His brain was able to locate Mercedes' voice as he wiped the Slushie out of his eyes.

Suddenly it clicked.

_Rachel Berry had just fucking slushied him._

* * *

She was waiting by his locker after last period, looking petrified but still defiant.

"You never ruled yourself out of your dare," she blurted out as he approached her. "I didn't want to do it to anyone else, it wouldn't be fair."

He'd realised that he'd left a little loophole in his dare while he was washing the Slushie out of his 'hawk.

He didn't really feel like talking to her and decided to get the conversation over with. "So, what the hell do we do now?" he asked, but he thought he already knew the answer.

She licked her lips nervously. "Well, if you don't want to concede –"

"I didn't lose, Berry." He snarled, even though he had come off worse in _both_ of the dares.

"So we keep going until someone loses?" she asked uncertainly and he nodded.

"Let the games fucking commence."

* * *

A/N Hope you enjoyed. The song featured this time was 'Sweet Child O' Mine' by Guns and Roses. It seriously took me _forever_ to come up with a song for him to sing so I hope that was ok.

Now, I'm gonna let you guys into a secret that you're probably not going to believe. My surname is actually 'Dare'. I know, it sounds ridiculous when I'm writing a story about people doing dares. But there you go. Anyway, despite what my name might suggest, I am not the completing dares sort of person. I was a painfully good student at school. So, if you guys have any requests or suggestions about what Puck and Rachel should have to do then please feel free to let me know. Just keep in mind the 4 rules from above.

Until Next time…

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic


	3. Levelling out the Playing Field

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world

Thanks for the reviews, alerts and favourites guys! You lot are awesome!

Chapter 3: Levelling out the Playing Field

* * *

Whispers and snickers followed Puck for the whole of the morning following their initial dares. It was irritating beyond belief.

"Yeah, Rachel somebody, that annoying little show off from Glee."

"He got sauced _and_ slushied on the same day! He's obviously done some awful crap to deserve that sort of karma."

"If I hadn't seen the photos online I would never have believed it!"

Puck almost winced. There were photos?! He didn't know which dare they showed but the first chance he got he was going to find the website and somehow destroy it. Details were to be worked on later.

He was surprised that the students weren't keeping their voices down as he walked past them. They obviously thought that now he was singing spontaneously and getting slushied by Rachel Berry of all people, he'd turned into a gleeking pansy!

He needed to find something badass to do and _quick_.

"I want you to cry."

He spun round at the sound of the quiet voice next to his elbow and saw his nemesis.

"Not here," he hissed at her. He did not want to be seen talking to her – his rep had suffered enough as it was. "Choir room. 5 minutes."

She rolled her eyes and brushed past him, almost causing him to stumble to the side. He was surprised at the strength her miniature form had. It was another thing to add to the extremely long list of things he hated about her.

The people around him quickly looked away when he glanced at them. _Shit_. If he was going to have any social standing by the time this game was over then he and Berry needed to have a way of communicating without anyone else noticing.

His brain suddenly comprehended what exactly she had said to him. _I want you to cry_.

_Fuck._

So much for him finding something badass to do! He snarled and made a freshman girl jump and shrink away from him. Well, that was slightly better.

Puck couldn't actually remember the last time he'd cried. He was a fucking stud, for shit's sake.

He stomped off to the choir room and found her sitting at the piano stool, swinging her legs back and forth. She gave him a light hearted grin and he scowled.

He still couldn't believe that this sweater clad, pleated skirt and knee sock wearing midget could be an evil genius when the situation called for it. He'd been so pissed off about his double public humiliation that last night he'd made his sister cry five times and smashed a glass in his room when he'd accidentally hit it with his PS3 controller. (He'd pretended the aliens in his game all had Rachel Berry's face but unfortunately that hadn't stopped him from dying, hence the thrown controller and broken glass).

"I was thinking about what you said yesterday," she began, "about Jocks not having feelings and what a load of nonsense that is because _everyone_ has feelings. I think that if _you_ were to be seen showing emotion then it would set a precedent for the rest of your athletic friends to express themselves more."

He raised his eyebrows. "That is the biggest load of shit I have ever heard in my life."

She huffed and crossed her arms, drawing his eyes to her chest before he remembered that she was the devil and he snapped his gaze back to her eyes.

"I don't care what 'causes you to cry'," she instructed, ignoring what he said, "as long as it's done in public. It doesn't have to be done in front of the whole school though – about ten or more people should be enough."

"Anything else?" he grunted.

She bit her lip and looked to the side, considering. Puck refused to admit that the devil could possibly look cute: firstly because she was _evil _and secondly because he didn't use the word cute._ Ever._

"Well, I suppose you should get it done either today or tomorrow. I don't want to be kept waiting forever."

He clenched his fists. She was making him sound like a fucking slave dog! Oh, she was going get what was coming to her and then some.

She hopped up from the stool and gave him a bright smile. "I'll see you later on in Glee then. I assume we're going to be working on 'Against All Odds' again seeing as Finn's still not back at school." Then she practically skipped out of the room.

Her happiness was utterly sickening. Seriously, where the hell was the nearest bathroom? He desperately needed to crush her perky spirit. She'd made a fool of him twice and he wasn't about to let it happen again.

To get the better of Berry he was going to have to think. _Hard_.

If she could find a loophole in his slushie dare then he was sure he could somehow turn this one to his advantage. She was no cleverer than he was, right? Ok, maybe she was, but he was going to work out how to beat her even if it killed him. Hmm, maybe that was a _little_ extreme but he was still determined to come up with something.

And suddenly he saw it. Oh, yes, Berry, get ready because Noah Puckerman was stepping things up a gear.

* * *

Rachel Berry was feeling pretty darn happy with herself today. She was still on some sort of rebellious high from throwing a slushie in Puck's face. She wasn't happy that she'd had to execute the slushie attack seeing as she knew how it felt to have the iciness consume your body, but it had felt amazing to get back at him for being such a jerk.

People had been acting differently around her all day. The people who were normally low on the social ladder like herself, and who were also past victims of Puck's cruelty, had been grinning and congratulating her. The cheerleaders still sneered at her but she could also detect a hint of fear in their eyes as they now thought that she wasn't just going to completely lie back and take their insults. She had gone up in the eyes of every male sports team in the school (except football, of course) and she established that this meant that Puck wasn't very popular among the other teams. Guys who hadn't even known she'd existed two days ago were suddenly complimenting her on her feistiness and her balls. Well, she thought the latter comment was a compliment. She decided to take it as such. In truth, Rachel had never felt so popular. It was a slight shame this had come about because of Puck's humiliation but there wasn't a lot she could about that.

And now, poor Noah was about to suffer a little bit more humiliation but, at least she consoled herself, it was for the good of the student population.

She arrived to Glee a few minutes early and spent the time giving herself a warm up at the piano. Her fellow members trickled in slowly and she was glad that she had given herself something to do otherwise they might start asking awkward questions about why she was throwing slushies at Puck. She considered that in future it might be better to arrive to glee at the last possible moment.

When Mr. Schuester entered she stopped playing and decided to take a seat with the others. Unfortunately the only spare seat was next to Puck. She didn't know if everyone else had secretly planned for this outcome, but she doubted it because they weren't really the smartest bunch of people.

Noah was steadfastly refusing to look at her so she decided to ignore him too as she sat down and gave her full attention to Mr. Schuester.

"Ok guys, seeing as Finn's still away we might as well carry on with 'Against All Odds'." Mr Schue informed then. "You all seemed to be getting on pretty well with it last time so let's just give it a run through and see what needs to be worked on. Rachel? Puck? You good to go?"

Rachel pulled herself to her feet with less enthusiasm than she would have if she'd been asked to sing with Finn. "Yes, Mr. Schue."

Puck nodded and they took their places in the centre of the room. The first run through was a complete disaster. Puck kept forgetting his words, the choreography and sometimes even the tune. Rachel was not impressed that he obviously had not been practising his part.

Half an hour later and they still hadn't moved any further than they in the last rehearsal; if anything, Puck seemed to be getting worse. Rachel had to work very hard not to grind her teeth – it was entirely unbecoming of a young lady to do so. She was sure he was just doing this to get back at her for the slushie, which was entirely unfair seeing as it was his stupidity that had forced her to do it in the first place. If Puck wanted to take it out on her in her next dare then fine, but he shouldn't do it when they were preparing for sectionals because it wasn't fair on the rest of the group.

He bumped into her for the tenth time that day and she finally lost it. "Noah! Will you _please_ try to pay attention! We've being going over this for the ages. It's not that hard. So pull yourself together, grow up and stop wasting my time!" her voice grew in volume and ferocity until she was screeching in his face.

Puck looked away from her and started blinking rapidly.

"Rachel," Mr Schue began in a disapproving tone but then stopped in shock as he saw Puck sink into a chair and put his face into his hands. His shoulders started to quiver and they could hear his ragged breathing.

"Is he _crying_?" Kurt asked incredulously. Everyone else in the room had wide eyes and there were even a couple of open mouths.

Rachel resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Yes, ok, even she'd been a little surprised when he'd initially sunk into his chair but then she recalled her dare and couldn't believe he'd chosen to let _her _make him 'cry'. That wasn't exactly going to improve his damaged reputation as a tough guy.

Mr. Schuester crouched in front of Puck and put a hand to his shoulder. "Puck, are you ok?" Rachel almost scoffed at the Spanish teacher's inability to comfort an upset student. Ok, Puck wasn't _really_ upset but that wasn't exactly the issue here.

Puck removed his hands from his face and Rachel was actually quite impressed that he'd managed to produce tears on demand. It was a difficult skill to master.

"I'm sorry, Mr Schue." Puck mumbled but everyone was still able to hear what he said. "It's just…my Grandma died last night."

'Oh dear' Rachel thought and swallowed nervously.

The rest of the members of Glee moved towards him and offered him some form of comfort; Mike and Matt clapped him on the back, Artie said some comforting words and Quinn took his hand and said she'd pray for him and his family.

Rachel stood rooted to the spot, unsure what to do. She couldn't help but notice that everyone kept shooting her dirty looks (that clearly said, what a_ bitch_) while they took turns to comfort Puck. Soon, everyone had said something but her and now they were all staring at her. Waiting.

She felt her hackles rise and her body tense. They had to be joking. There was _no way_ she was going to apologise to Puck for shouting and making him 'cry' about his fake dead Gran. She wouldn't do it. She wouldn't _ever_ do it. She wouldn't…oh…_damn_.

Rachel really wanted to hit Noah Puckerman right now. He was obviously more intelligent than she had given him credit for and he was even taking advantage of everyone's staring by _smirking _at her.

Rachel took a deep breath and closed her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at his stupid smug face. "I'm sorry for you loss," she said through gritted teeth and turned around to face the other direction, arms crossed in anger.

She heard someone mutter, "Worst apology _ever._" But then she heard Puck's voice and her blood boiled.

"It's ok, guys. It doesn't matter. I'm ok now, Mr. Shue. We can carry on with rehearsal."

She heard the sounds of everyone getting back to their places and she could practically feel the points of the daggers everyone was glaring her way. She tensed when she felt Puck stand behind her and Mr. Schue told them to take it from the top.

Puck wrapped his hands around her, as their starting position dictated, and leant down to whisper in her ear. "Nice work, Berry. That went much better than I expected. And now it's your turn." He stood back up straight and she felt the nerves tingle through her body. What did he mean? The music started to play and he leant forward again. "I dare you to sing a bum note before the song is out."

She gasped. He wanted her to _purposefully_ sing a wrong note? Was he insane?

She stumbled blindly through the steps of his verse lost in her thoughts. She was the definitive professional; she didn't sing bad notes.

Somehow she made it through her verse and their first chorus. She was running out of song…could she actually go through with this? Her performances were her pride and joy! She glanced at Puck's face and saw that he was trying hard not to smile at her anguish. How dare he?!

Oh, she was going to do this, but she was not going to let him see that he'd zeroed in on something so sensitive. She was a future Academy award winner and she was about to prove how good her acting skills were even when her heart felt like breaking.

It was the last part of the song…the last word…the last note. She made herself sing a completely different note than the one she was supposed to and felt her insides writhe in displeasure. She saw looks of surprise on all the faces in the room and placed one on her own as well.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Schue. I guess we need to practice the end a bit more. It is the first time we've managed to get to the end today, after all."

Mr. Schuester mouthed wordlessly at her. She supposed he was worried what was happening to his Glee club after Puck's tears and her bum note. He was probably expecting Brittany to start talking to him about Astro-Nuclear Physics next.

Rachel didn't care. She'd done her stupid dare and now her new mission in life was to think of a ways to make Noah Puckerman suffer.

* * *

A/N I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Keeping letting me know if there's any dares you want to see! You guys have come with some great ones so far.

Love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXx


	4. Double Dares

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world

Thanks to all my lovely reviewers/favourite and story alerters! I love you all!

Chapter 4: Double Dares

* * *

"Did you guys hear what Puck did to some freshman this morning?" Kurt asked as he set his food tray down at the Glee kids' usual cafeteria table.

"Yeah, he flushed his head down the toilet." Artie replied, shaking his head sadly.

Kurt stared. "No, I was talking about a girl he chucked into the dumpster! He actually performed a swirlie on someone?"

"_Please_ tell me it wasn't of the coloured variety?" Mercedes asked, looking disgusted.

Coloured variety? Rachel wondered what Mercedes meant and then as she realised about what colours would appear in a toilet bowl she pushed her food away, no longer hungry.

"I don't know," Artie admitted. "Someone only just told me about it in fourth period."

"I th-thought he was done with all those pranks," Tina said. "I wonder what's made him g-go back to his old ways."

"That boy has been acting weird all week," Mercedes pointed out.

Rachel thought it was probably time for her to leave. Miraculously, no one at the table had asked her about her slushie-ing of Puck a couple of days ago. Maybe Puck's tears from yesterday had caused temporary forgetfulness in her friends.

There was a clatter of noise and then howls of laughter from the direction of the football team. Rachel turned her head to see some poor freshman girl hurrying out of the cafeteria with food stains covering her clothes. Rachel looked back at the football players to see that Puck was getting high fives and pats on the back. She narrowed her eyes at the smug expression on his face.

"Why is he acting like such a jerk again?" Artie wondered.

"Well, there have been some mutterings amongst the gossip tree that Puck is no longer the so called 'badass' that he once was." Kurt suggested and Rachel began to gather her things. "He's joined glee, started singing during lunch, crying and let's not forget – Rachel Berry sit back down!"

Rachel sighed and realised she'd made her bid for freedom too late.

"I can't believe that you were about to desert us before filing us in on why you decided to drench Puck in slushie!" Kurt exclaimed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rachel said defensively and crossed her arms.

"Hunny, don't play stupid. We saw the pictures," Mercedes stated and Rachel sat down in a huff.

"So why'd you do it, Rachel?" Artie asked.

"He was being a jerk," Rachel explained, which was pretty much true. "I just thought he should get a taste of his own medicine; see how liked being publically humiliated."

"W-well he doesn't seem to have taken t-too kindly to it." Tina pointed out, glancing at the football players. Rachel glanced over and could see that Puck was still look entirely too happy with himself.

"No, he doesn't," Rachel agreed. Puck had obviously been going out of his way to try and restore his reputation and Rachel realised that the dares she had forced him to complete so far had obviously gotten under his skin. However, it was totally unacceptable of him to take it out on other students. Rachel was determined to stop that from happening and continue poking at him where it hurt the most.

* * *

Puck heard the ringtone of his cell and pulled it out to see that he had a message from Rachel Berry, telling him to meet her in the choir room instantly. He looked over to the Gleek's table and saw her excusing herself from her friends.

While he wasn't exactly pleased to have received a message from her, it was better than her coming up to him in the hallway again. He was glad that they'd exchanged numbers.

He told the rest of the football players he'd catch them later and swaggered out of the cafeteria. Thanks to today's badass actions he was once again top dog in McKinley – right where he belonged.

He walked into the choir room and with one look at her face he could tell that she was mad. What the fuck for, he wasn't sure. She couldn't still be mad about how he'd turned the tables on her yesterday, could she? He was still pretty stoked about how his crying dare had turned out. It'd been fucking epic to see her force out that apology and then the crappy note had been the absolute icing on the cake. Ok, so maybe she was still pissed off about that; her singing was the most important thing to her and yes, he was well aware of how pathetic that made her.

"What do you want Berry? You ready for the next round after I completely blew you out of the ring last time?"

"You really are a horrible person sometimes, Noah," she reprimanded.

"A 'horrible person', Berry. Is that really the best insult you can come up with?" he mocked.

"I thought you'd grown as a person since joining glee," she continued, ignoring his comment. "But given the attacks on those students today it appears I was mistaken."

She was angry about that? Seriously? It wasn't like he'd done it to her.

"Berry, I've been doing stuff like that for years. What made you think I'd stopped just because of glee club?"

"Well, I thought that since you'd gotten to know some of your previous victims you'd realised that they're actual people with real feelings. I thought you'd realised that your bullying was childish and cruel and that no one deserves that sort of humiliation. I thought that you'd definitely experienced how it felt after what happened a couple of days ago with the sauce and the slushie."

"Yeah, well, thanks to _that_ my reputation has been slipping and I needed to get my badass status back. So, really, Berry, it's your fault that those guys had to suffer. I hope you're happy with yourself." He smirked at her, knowing that it was going to piss her off further.

"Noah, that's completely ridiculous! You don't have to be a badass."

He scoffed. "Did you honestly not hear what you just said? That's like asking Kurt not to be gay or Mike not to be Asian. I _am_ a badass."

"Well, I'm going to do everything I can to try and disprove that." Berry stated with a gleam in her eye. "I've got a dare for you, Noah. Actually, I've got two because one will take slightly longer than the other. Firstly, I want you to get an A in one of your midterms next week." He made to interrupt her but she carried on speaking. "And seeing as that one won't be completed for a while, I'd like you to do a good deed for someone too."

He glared at her. "How the fuck am I supposed to get an A in a test, Berry? I've never even come close!"

"Well, I assume that's from a lack of preparation and studying because the way you manipulated your dare yesterday is evidence that you're not unintelligent." She pointed out.

"Was that a compliment, Berry?" he asked in surprise.

"It was a statement of fact," she sniffed. "It's up to you which subject you get your A in – you'd know better than I which test you'll be better at. But, if you get your A you'll have to advertise it to the whole school. There's no point in you secretly getting an A, is there?"

She smiled at him and he glowered at her.

"Now, I'm giving you slightly more reign over your other dare." She continued. "You just have to do something nice for one other member of the student population but once again we will have to make it public knowledge, won't we?"

He ground his teeth to stop him from saying anything. Why did she have to take a different stance to everyone else who played a game of dare? Most people tried to get the other person to pussy-out from doing something too badass but she was trying to turn him into a fucking saint! At least he could take some relief in that she'd left that second dare a little vague. He was surprised about that seeing as that was what had let him twist things around yesterday. He suddenly realised that she was talking and had been for a couple of minutes.

"…unfair to take it out on other students. I'm warning you now that it must absolutely come to an end. I could make your dares a lot worse, you know. In the long term I think that you'll find that I'm actually doing you a favour by turning you into a more mature young man; your GPA will improve and teachers will think more fondly of you."

He groaned. "Berry, will please just shut the fuck up!" He paused, then realised that actually, that was exactly what he wanted Rachel Berry to do.

"Right, my turn." He said. "You're not allowed to speak at school for the rest of the week."

"Noah, that's insane. What am I going to do if a teacher asks me a question? And we've got glee this afternoon; I can't not sing at glee!"

"You can sing," he agreed, "but you can't talk once we leave this room until you've left school grounds. You're just gonna have to find a way to deal with not talking to everyone about everything. I know it's going to be hard for you, Berry, but that's the point. Oh, and, if I have to ace a test then you have to fail one."

Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. "Fail a test?" she squeaked. "I can't _fail_!"

"Well, it looks like this little game is over then, Berry. I'm a little surprised, I'd have thought you'd put up more of a fight."

She crossed her arms and glared at him. "This isn't over."

He smirked. "Good. Now, if there's nothing else for you to protest over then I'm leaving. Oh, and Berry, don't try to lie to me if you break your talking dare; I'll know if you start yapping."

"There's no way – " she began but he cut her off.

"Berry, I'll _know_," he stressed and she swallowed nervously. Of course he wouldn't really know; he wasn't psychic or anything, he just wanted her to think he was.

He walked out of the door and set his mind to thinking how he could make her break her dare. If he could get Rachel Berry to say something in the next day and a half then he wouldn't have to try and get an A on one of his tests. He'd managed to out-think her once but was he able to do it again?

* * *

Rachel angrily shoved her books into her locker. She'd not had a very good twenty-four hours. Not being able to talk was really quite infuriating. Luckily, Rachel's teachers hadn't called on her at all during her lessons and whenever one of her classmates had attempted a conversation (which had happened once) she'd pointed to her throat and shook her head.

Things had been going fine until she'd gotten to glee. Taking advantage of her lack of speech, Puck had constantly made remarks and suggestions to try and provoke her into speaking. At one point he told Mr. Schue that Rachel had said she wanted to share the lead on 'Against All Odds' with Mercedes and Rachel had been forced to nod her head as though this was true! She had sent glares his way for all the rest of the practice.

Mr. Schuester and the others had given her strange looks because of her silence but, to be honest, they just looked as though they were _happy_ that she wasn't talking! But she knew that couldn't be true; she knew they all valued her opinion.

Her phone beeped to signal that she had a message. Since second period that morning she'd received a dozen messages from this same number and each one got more sexually explicit. She didn't know who was sending them but it was completely freaking her out.

She shut her locker door and nearly screamed as she discovered Jacob Ben Israel standing next to her.

"Hi Rachel," he greeted and she felt her skin crawl. "I see you got my message," he indicated her phone and she nearly dropped it in revulsion.

"I have to admit that I was a little surprised when your messenger told me of your passion for me." He pushed his glasses up his nose. "Oh, and he said to tell you that his good deed is done like you requested; he gave me your cell number."

Through the horror forming in her brain, Rachel was just able to see Puck standing further down the hallway, leaning against the lockers. He had the biggest smirk on his face that she had ever seen.

"He told me that if I wasn't convinced of your love for me then I should watch you closely. He said that you'd taken a vow of silence until we shared our first kiss and I _have_ been watching and you haven't said anything all day!"

Rachel's eyes widened. He'd been watching her?!

"Well, you needn't be silent any longer my love-muffin!" Jacob closed the distance between them quickly and a scream was on the verge of spilling from her lips before she remembered Puck's smirking face. She wouldn't let him win.

She instinctively raised her knee into Jacob's groin and the boy grunted and curled up in pain.

She hurried away and glared at Puck as she neared him.

"So, do you still want to make my good deed public knowledge?" he grinned and Rachel curled her hands into fists before storming away. Noah Puckerman had gotten the better of her twice in a row. As she stomped around the school she decided that it was never going to happen again.

* * *

A/N I hope you enjoyed that one. It's not my best cos I'm a little tired from staying up to watch the Winter Olympics last night. Team GB won a gold medal! Woooooooo! I know USA and Canada have won loads already but we like _never_ get gold at the winter games.

Anyway, next update won't be for a while because unfortunately I have uni work to be getting on with. It sucks, I know.

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you see it, that's not the last we'll see of Jewfro. He should be making an appearance next chapter and Finn should be over his illness too!

Keep the dare suggestions coming in! They're truly hilarious!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXx


	5. Breaking A Rule

Disclaimer: I do not own the Glee world.

A/N Yay, I'm back! Sorry, the real world got in the way there. And to make it up to you all I've given you an extra long chapter!

Muchos love to my reviewers! You say the sweetest things!

Just to warn you, some minor theft from 'Mash – Up' takes place in this chapter and remember, it's an AU – Quinn's not pregnant.

Chapter 5: Breaking A Rule

* * *

Puck threw his Biology textbook across his room in disgust. Studying sucked major ass. It was just too fucking boring. Normally he wouldn't bother (especially on a friggin Saturday morning!) but on this occasion he really didn't have a choice. Not unless he wanted to hand his balls over to Rachel Berry (metaphorically speaking, of course) and there was no way that he was ever going to be doing that.

He decided to take a break from learning about prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells (I mean, wtf?); he'd pick that shit up again later. He'd waste a bit of time on the internet and then have a look at Spanish.

Puck had decided to play it slightly safe and study for two subjects rather than one in order to ensure he got his A. It'd probably take up more of his time than revising for just one midterm but he liked to have a back up. His Spanish was better than his Biology – turns out that Mrs. Dominguez liked to hear dirty talk in her native language while he was fucking her. She'd helped him get started but he sort of picked it up after that. Sure, he knew more about Spanish that would get a sexually deprived MILF off, than how to inform someone of the way to the chemist but he could adapt. Plus, Mr Schue was likely to go easier on him than any other teacher in the school or at least he hoped so. There had to be some benefits to joining glee club, right?

He logged into his Facebook and changed his status to 'Puck fuckin h8s midgets' before checking his notifications. He was not impressed to see that the midget that had inspired his status had sent him a message. Berry had tried to add him as a friend on Facebook a couple of weeks back but he was having none of that shit.

He was still annoyed that he hadn't managed to make her talk during her dare. He'd been so sure that setting that creepy Jacob kid on her would work but damn it if that girl didn't have the stubbornness of a…a…ok, he didn't know what to actually compare her to, but she was pretty fucking stubborn to say the least.

He reluctantly clicked on her message, doubtful that it would bring any good news.

_Dear Noah,_

_Due to the impending midterms I suggest that we impose a hiatus on our game whilst we study for these important academic examinations. I need to focus on performing well in my _other_ midterms in order to keep my GPA up and I'm sure you would appreciate having nothing to distract you from achieving your solitary 'A'. _

_Please inform me of your decision in the matter as soon as is feasibly possible._

_Yours, _

_Rachel Berry _٭

He scoffed at the stupid star at the end of her name and the formal way in which she'd written the message. Only Berry would write a Facebook message like that. Seriously, why couldn't she use short cuts like everyone else? It'd save her a huge amount of time considering those stupid fucking long words she used.

Puck thought about what she'd said. He didn't really mind pausing their dares until his Biology and Spanish midterms were done (he didn't give a shit about his other ones) on Thursday. But, if he was agreeing to do her a favour then she was going to have to be willing to do something in return:

_Fine, bt only if u agree 2 break the kiss rule once midterms r dun_

He played some crappy internet games for a while before eventually turning to some Spanish studying. After lunch he checked his messages again and saw that Berry had replied.

_Dear Noah,_

_I was able to infer from your reply to my earlier message that you are willing to take a break from the dares. I am most grateful that you are willing to think of other people's futures. Regarding the request that you dare me to kiss another member of the student population, I will acquiesce to the breaking of this regulation solely on the condition that you perform this dare too. _

_Yours, _

_Rachel Berry _٭

Puck briefly considered what she'd asked. Having to kiss some random fugly chick at school wasn't going to be as bad as who he had in mind for _her_…

_Fine wiv me. I'll tell u who u ave 2 kiss on Fri morn and u ave 2 get it dun by end of the day. _

The rest of his afternoon passed extremely slowly as he tried to cram his head with this Biology and Spanish shit. Luckily, it was Simchat Torah tomorrow so his mom made he and his sister do their stupid _Schindler's List_ tradition that night and he could give the studying a rest.

Everything was going fine as he stuffed his face with his sweet and sour pork until his mom turned to him and told him was no better than a fucking Nazi because he didn't date a Jewish girl! That was messed up. Especially seeing as she'd let him get _pork_ from the take-out.

He may well have already dated (well, fucked) a Jewish girl, he couldn't be sure; it wasn't as though he bothered to ask them. In fact, the only girl at his high school that he knew was definitely Jewish was Rachel Berry and that was because when Mr. Schue had suggested singing a song in Glee that included the words 'Jesus is my saviour,' she full on lectured him for half an hour about representing the religious diversity within the group, blah, blah, blah.

The idea of him _dating_ Rachel Berry was just so unlikely to _ever_ happen that he would've laughed hysterically in his mom's face were it not for the fact that he was a BAMF and not a fucking lunatic. So he just continued to shovel pork into his face and kept quiet.

However, later that night he had the freakiest dream ever. He knew it was a dream because there was no way Berry could've climbed up the wall outside his window with no shoes on. She looked fucking amazing in this white nightdress, a Star of David necklace laying on her chest and her hair was blowing slightly from some wind he couldn't feel. She was just smiling at him – not that scary smile she usually has, but just a small, gentle smile.

He jerked awake. What the _fuck_ had that been about?

* * *

Rachel drummed her fingers nervously against the side of her desk. This was it. This was the midterm that she was going to fail. She couldn't believe she was going to screw up her academic record all because of a stupid game she was playing with Noah Puckerman. What on earth had gotten into her.

She smiled weakly at Mr. Schuester as he put her test face down on her desk. She felt ridiculously hot, her palms were sweaty and her heart was racing a mile a minute. Mr. Schue informed the class that they could start and the silence of the room was punctuated with the swishing of paper being turned over.

Rachel turned hers over slightly slower than everyone else and carefully wrote her name at the top. She had already decided that she wasn't going to fail this exam by appearing to perform poorly. No, she just wasn't going to take the exam.

She waited a couple of minutes before putting her acting skills to good use and coming up with false tears, making them stream down her face as she started breathing erratically.

Mr. Schuester moved over to her, looking alarmed. "Rachel, what's the matter?" he whispered.

"I feel, really, really ill," she gasped, clutching her stomach.

"Do you think you need to go see the school nurse?" he enquired.

"I, I don't know," she stammered. She was beginning to attract stares from the rest of the class.

"Rachel if you feel in the slightest way able to carry on with your paper then I strongly advise you to do so; if you leave now then you'll automatically fail."

Rachel sobbed harder, already knowing that this was the case. Mr. Schue looked even more concerned than before.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Schue," she wailed, now with the whole class' attention on her. "I think I need to leave."

Mr. Schuester sighed and nodded, offering her a hand to help her up once she'd collected all of her items. He escorted her to the door and informed her quietly that if she could get a note from the nurse or another doctor then he'd allow her to re-sit the exam at a later date. Rachel almost let out a sigh of relief as she'd been hoping he'd say something along those lines. He opened the door and they both spotted Finn walking down the corridor.

"Finn," Mr Schue called and the quarterback turned around.

"Oh, jeez, Rachel what's wrong?" Finn asked worriedly and Rachel felt her insides flutter at his obvious concern for her well-being. However she didn't like that Finn was seeing her in such an unattractive state.

"Rachel is feeling unwell and needs to be taken to the nurse." Mr. Schuester explained. "My class are currently taking a midterm and I can't leave them. Could you take her for me?"

"Er, yeah, sure," Finn agreed, moving to stand awkwardly next to Rachel. "C'mon Rach, let's go." Finn put an arm around her shoulder and Rachel thought she'd died and gone to heaven.

Thankfully Spanish was her last class of the day and she didn't have glee that afternoon. She could just let the nurse examine her (and convince the old lady to give her a note to allow her to re-sit her exam) before requesting to go home.

"So, er, what's the matter Rach?" Finn asked. "Y'know, if you want to tell me, cos you don't have to if it's something embarrassing."

Rachel knew that Finn, while blessed with a very kind disposition, was not the sharpest pencil in the pot and that she could probably let her performance relax a little around him.

"Just really bad stomach cramps," she mumbled, placing a hand over her midriff. She hadn't really seen Finn much since his illness last week and in glee they'd been too busy rehearsing to have a conversation. "Are you all better now?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"We missed you in glee." She told him "Mr. Schuester had to give your solo in a new song away because of your absence but I'm sure that if you asked Noah to step down then he'd agree. I got the impression that he didn't really want the part anyway." She'd temporarily forgotten that she was supposed to be unwell and had let her mouth get carried away. She hoped that her wish for Finn to take the lead in 'Against All Odds' instead of Noah wasn't _too_ obvious.

"Ah, not it's cool. Puck can have this one." Finn replied. "Someone told me he's been real upset cos his Gran died so I don't wanna make him even sadder." Finn seemed to ponder something for a moment before telling her, "It is kinda weird though cos I thought both his Grans were already dead. I must be thinking about someone else though – one of his Grans can't die twice, right?"

Rachel assumed that Finn was trying to make a joke and she gave him a weak smile in response. She didn't like to be reminded how Noah had manipulated her, whether anyone else was aware of it or not.

"I also heard he was doing loads of weird stuff last week," Finn carried on, "like singing in the cafeteria and being extra mean to some freshmen. Do you think that's all because of his Gran?"

"I think it unwise for anyone to delve into the schematics of why Noah Puckerman makes the decisions he does. Anyway, I'm sure any psychologist would have no difficulty in diagnosing him as a text book case of 'boy with abandonment issues'." Finn looked at her as though she'd started speaking in Swahili for all of the words he'd understood. She reminded herself, again, that she was supposed to be sick and therefore unable to form complex sentences.

"Errr, right," Finn replied eventually. "Plus I kinda heard a rumour that you threw a slushie in his face. Is that true?"

"He was being a total _jerk_." Rachel responded, with no trace of remorse. "I thought a bit of payback was in order – to let him see how it felt to be on the receiving end of a slushie attack. Unfortunately, after that he began to fear for his reputation and tried to make himself look 'cool' again."

Finn gave her that lopsided grin that always made her stomach feel like it was doing a somersault. "Well, I don't think Puck's too worried about what other people think of him. He once told me that he could wear a _dress_ to school and people would still think it cool."

Rachel nearly stopped walking in shock but managed to trip over her feet instead. Finn caught her before she went flying but she was too surprised at what he'd said to appreciate his arms wrapped tightly around her body.

"What did you just say?" she demanded. _This was just too good to be true._

"When all this glee stuff started Puck told me he'd be cool enough to wear a dress to school and no one would care. I don't know if he meant it though."

Rachel had to use every ounce of acting skill she possessed to not look like this was the best piece of information she'd ever received (she was supposed to be too ill to take a midterm remember?).

"Somehow I doubt that even _Noah_ could pull that off." Rachel replied, allowing a small smile to grace her lips. She looked around and realised that they had arrived at the nurse's office. Fighting off the disappointment that her conversation with Finn was heading to a close, she extricated herself from his hold saying, "Thank you so much for escorting me, I'm sure you have better things to do with your time."

"Nah, it's cool. I've got a free period now so I'm not doing anything. I hope you feel better soon Rachel." He reached out and squeezed her shoulder before walking away.

Rachel took a few moments to compose herself. Her shoulder was feeling all tingly from where he'd touched it and she was sure she had a huge grin on her face. She could hardly go into the nurse looking like that, could she?

She sighed as she watched Finn walk back down the corridor. He was just so perfect. She just _knew_ that they were meant for each other. It was only a matter of time before he realized that Quinn Fabray was completely wrong for him. Rachel knew that he wasn't oblivious to the sparks that existed between them. She wasn't an expert in the department but she thought that the kisses that they'd shared in the auditorium had been incredible and gave her Goosebumps every time she recalled the sensations he'd evoked within her. The one in the bowling alley had been less momentous, but kisses with Finn could never be bad, right? On both occasions he'd asked her to keep what had happened between them a secret. She didn't really like that part but if that's what made Finn happy then she'd agree – for now.

* * *

Puck yawned widely as he got out of truck on Friday morning. He hadn't slept well over the past few nights and when he _did_ manage to sleep, more often than not he was plagued with dreams about Rachel fucking Berry!

The dreams varied (although he'd have that one of her climbing through his window at least once a night) and they ranged from the mundane (the two of them discussing football over breakfast) to the truly bizarre (two words; clown college). Her being Rachel Berry, he also had dreams involving singing (Finn and Berry were singing 'Against All Odds' but Puck had pushed Finn out of the way and suddenly he and Rachel were singing 'Don't Stop Believin'', walking around each other in a circle) but there were also dreams that left him so hard that he'd been forced to take more cold showers in the last five days than he'd had over the past six months.

The sex dreams and the original dream were the ones that freaked him out the most. He feared that God was punishing him for being a bad Jew by trying to push him to get with Berry. That was _never_ going to happen.

He'd been doing his best to avoid her all week because whenever he saw her she'd just remind him of his dreams and that would make him feel…uncomfortable. Thank – _fuck_ – fully Mr. Schue hadn't asked them to go through 'Against All Odds'; he dreaded to think what dreams he'd have about her after that.

After Saturday's efforts, his studying had gone downhill. If it wasn't bad enough that Berry was in his dreams, he thought about her a lot during the day too. He was rapidly loosing his mind.

He wasn't sure of his chances of getting an 'A' either. He knew he'd probably done a lot better in his Spanish and Biology midterms than he'd ever done before but, an 'A'? He'd have to wait and see.

Finn had told him yesterday that he'd had to take Berry to see the nurse on Wednesday afternoon because she was too ill to take her midterm. She hadn't failed in quite the way he'd expected her to but a fail was a fail. She'd gotten through her dare; he just hoped he had too.

And now it was Friday: Kiss day. The name 'Jewfro' was written on a scrap of paper that he was about to slip through her locker. Puck believed that Jacob was a good choice for two reasons: firstly, he knew that Berry couldn't stand him (and rightly so, that kid was gross) and secondly, he hoped that the knowledge that she'd actually kissed that creep would put him off of her forever. It was a realistic hope, he thought, as the mental image that formed in his mind made him feel nauseous.

The school corridor wasn't too busy as he stealthily pushed the piece of paper into Berry's locker and it made him feel like some badass spy. (Shut up, he loved James Bond when he was little – that guy got _all_ the girls).

Then he walked over to his own locker only feeling slightly nervous finding out who Berry had picked for him. The (no doubt fugly) chick was about to have the best day of their life when he was forced to kiss them, Puck thought as he pulled his locker open and spotted the bright pink square of paper inside. He snatched it out of there before anyone got a chance to see; nothing that girly had ever been inside his locker (apart from maybe Santana's red thong (that she'd unfortunately reclaimed)). He turned the paper over and his glare increased as he read what Berry had written there.

_Dear Noah,_

_I would like for you to kiss another member of the male student population here at McKinley. As a child of a same sex couple I am appalled at the lack of acceptance that homosexual couples receive at this school. I believe that if you, a reasonably popular and notorious womaniser of the student body, were to kiss another man then others would see that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the situation. _

_Yours,_

_Rachel Berry _٭

He furiously screwed up the piece of paper. She wanted him to kiss a fucking _dude_?! He was so surprised and horrified that he could do nothing but stare at the back of his locker for a few moments.

Fuck, he really didn't think that there was a way out of this one. He could try kissing one of the more masculine girls in the school but he doubted that Berry would accept that at all.

He stumbled to his chem class, glad that he'd already sat this midterm earlier in the week because he couldn't concentrate on anything but the fact that he had to kiss a guy before the day was out or surrender his manhood to Rachel Berry. The bell rang to signal the end of the period and Puck looked around in shock. A whole period had gone already? He groaned as he realised that he had his history midterm next. It was his last test which normally would be something to celebrate but he knew that he was going to have to try really hard not to fail this one.

He slumped into his seat next to Finn and had to refrain from banging his own head on the table.

"Dude, are you ok?" Finn asked him, obviously noticing his sullen mood.

"I'm fine, bro." Puck replied. "I just want these stupid midterms over with."

Finn nodded in understanding and they both fell into silence as the tests were handed out. Puck shook his head forcefully. He was not going to let Berry screw up his test – he couldn't afford to fail this in case he got chucked off of the football team or, slightly less importantly, glee club.

He tried, he really did try, but the possibility of a homo-kiss was at the back of his mind the whole way through. As Mrs. Purser collected in his paper he was pretty sure that he'd be getting an F for his history midterm. Well, he wasn't about to lose his place on the football team and hand his balls over to Berry in the same day. He was going to carry on playing this game and he was going to fucking _win_.

"Congratulations juniors," Mrs. Purser (an excitable older lady) happily addressed the class, "you've finished your last midterm for this semester!"

Puck made a split second decision. People were whooping and cheering the end of the exams, giving each other high fives and slaps on the back. Finn was grinning at him and Puck reasoned that if he was going to kiss any dude, it might as well be his best friend.

_Pretend he's a chick, pretend he's a chick_ he told himself as he closed his eyes (he _really_ didn't want to see this), grabbed Finn's face and jerked their heads together. Their lips touched for no longer than half a second before Puck pushed Finn back again. Puck was surprised that he didn't want to rip his lips off in disgust but instead he felt kind of hollow, like it had been no big deal at all. He wasn't saying he'd enjoyed it – he was definitely _not_ a homo and Finn's skin had been way too rough to be pleasant – but it wasn't like the world had ended because his lips had touched another dude's.

Now to take a lesson from the Rachel Berry School of acting like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The class had gone silent the instant their lips had met (which was only a second ago) and Puck opened his eyes to try to salvage some of his reputation.

Finn looked like…well, like his best friend had just kissed him. Shock and confusion were echoed all around the classroom and if Puck didn't feel so self-conscious he'd want to take a picture to show them all how stupid they looked. Even Mrs. Purser's mouth was hanging open and Puck was sure she'd seen her fair share of weird stuff over the years.

He forced himself to laugh and say in as casual a tone as he could, "Thank fuck these tests are done. Hudson, man, what's wrong? You look like you've found out that Quinn's pregnant or some shit." No response. "Anyway, I'll catch you later, man."

The entire one-sided conversation had taken place in silence as everyone was still surprised about what had happened. Puck grabbed his stuff and forced himself to walk at a casual pace and not run out of the classroom.

He was severely tempted to just skip the rest of the day and hide in his room in shame but he realised that a) that would only make things worse and b) he wasn't some fucking pansy who _hid_.

He had a free period before lunch and decided that he'd tactically retreat (read: _not_ hide) to the auditorium. It was one of the last places people would expect to find him and it was normally deserted while class was on.

Puck took a seat at the back of the huge dark room and put his head in his hands. What was Berry trying to do to him? Was she actually attempting to destroy his life?

He thought dark thoughts about Rachel Berry for a few minutes before his tiredness caught up with him and he fell asleep. It was a mostly dreamless sleep until he dreamt that Berry had written her own name on the pink piece of paper in his locker. In his dream they had ended up doing much more than just kissing and he groaned as he woke up, realising that he had a… situation to take care of. He couldn't be bothered to take _another_ cold shower (seriously, he didn't think he'd ever been this clean) and walking through school with a raging hard on was definitely not an option considering what had taken place in History (people would totally get the wrong idea.).

He used his kiss with Finn as a somewhat inspiration, focusing on how wrong everything had felt compared to kissing a girl and thankfully his 'problem' was soon no longer a concern.

He checked his watch and saw that it was about half way through lunch and he was fucking starving. Unfortunately, this meant that he was going to have to face the rest of the school. He sighed; it was time to get this shit over with.

He checked to make sure the coast was clear before exiting the auditorium and made his way to his locker to get rid of his stuff. He never made it to his locker though, as he was completely sidetracked by the sight of Berry sitting behind a kissing booth.

She'd obviously constructed the whole thing by herself because he recognised her handwriting proclaiming that she was selling kisses for $2.50. Puck was amazed that she'd managed to get this all set up in a single morning, especially when he saw the lips-shaped candy she'd managed to procure from somewhere that she was selling for 50¢.

In spite of his planned avoidance of her all week and how pissed he was at her for making him kiss a dude, he was too intrigued to ignore her and carry on walking to his locker.

"What the hell, Berry? I only dared you to kiss one guy not the whole fucking school?" he quietly said to her, anxious that no one should hear them.

"I am well aware of the request you made this morning, Noah. However, I believe it would be unwise of me to willingly show affection for Jacob. I fear he would believe I have feelings for him, especially seeing as you told him as much last week." She gave him a disapproving look and he raised an eyebrow.

"You set up this whole thing so that you would _let_ Jewfro kiss you? And he has to pay for it?! That's fucking extreme, Berry, even for you."

She sniffed haughtily. "The money's going to charity," she informed him, "to help bring musical theatre to the underprivileged."

"Fucking hell, Berry, the last thing those people want to do is learn to sing bloody show tunes."

"I respectfully disagree. Musical theatre can be very uplifting and rewar –"

Puck groaned loudly, cutting her off. He was about to turn and leave her when she said, "I heard about you and Finn." She was smiling mischievously at him, the little minx. He glared daggers at her. "Interesting choice. And you did it front of a whole class of people too. You know we never specified who had to witness the kiss so it was quite brave of you to perform it in front of so many of your peers."

He clenched his fists angrily and could only retort with, "Yeah, well, me kissing a dude won't make any difference to the way people feel about gays in this school you know."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I know, it was just an added incentive for me to make you kiss a guy. So, how was it?"

"I want to burn my fucking lips off," he growled at her but she rolled her eyes.

"Please, Noah, I'm sure it wasn't that bad. In fact, I expect you're probably disturbed at how un-revolting you found it. Maybe now you'll stop making disparaging remarks about homosexuality."

"Un-fucking-likely."

Berry sighed. "Well, if you've got nothing more to say and you're not going to buy some candy then I'd rather you left my presence."

"What? You don't want anyone to see you smack lips with Jewfro?"

"Well, yes, actually."

"Oh, it's a good thing then that you chose this _secret_ corridor that no one _ever_ comes down to set up your kissing booth in," he said, laying the sarcasm on thick. She glared at him. "Y'know Berry, I'm surprised that there's even room to _move_ down this corridor given the number of guys at this school that are so desperate to kiss you that they'd be willing to pay for it."

He knew it was a douche-y thing to say because he knew how sensitive she was about being popular and wanting a boyfriend but he was so mad at her for the Finn kiss and that she hadn't left his head for nearly a week (not that the last bit was really her fault. He still blamed God) that he couldn't help but take it out on her. "Have you actually had _any_ customers yet?"

Her eyes were glistening slightly and he almost felt bad for upsetting her. _Almost_.

"Not yet," she squeaked in a voice that was very un-Berry-like. "But lunch won't be over for a while and the only reason I'm doing this is for Jacob to kiss me; no one else really matters."

"Good, cos no one else is going to be a willing participant in your PG-13 prostitution." She glared at him again and he wondered whether there was something wrong with finding her ridiculously sexy when she was mad at him. "No, really, I mean apart from Jacob, who would _ever_ pay to kiss you?"

Ok, so he knew that Finn would be at Berry's side in an instant if he wasn't with Quinn and it wasn't like Berry was unattractive (his cold showers were a testament to that). He was just trying to convince himself (or really his subconscious) that his attraction to her was completely whack.

"Will you quit being such a _jerk_ and just _leave_," she hissed at him.

A thought suddenly occurred to him and he stared at her in shock. "Holy shit, Berry, have you ever actually kissed a guy?"

She flushed bright red and bit her lip. "Yes," she said uncertainly and he raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah? Who?"

"Um, I'd rather not say," she murmured, avoiding his eyes.

"Bullshit. You're a kissing virgin, aren't you?" He laughed when she didn't respond and blushed even redder. Fucking hell, he'd no idea that Rachel Berry was _so_ innocent. And she was going sell her first kiss away to freaking Jewfro! Disgust swirled in his stomach and something else raced through his veins. Was it lust?

She was just standing behind her table looking the picture of school girl purity – crisp white shirt, tiny black skirt and black knee socks, with big brown eyes, rosy cheeks and pouting (yes, fucking pouting!) lips. He nearly groaned. Almost a week's worth of desire was thudding around his body and he was getting pretty sick of fighting it. The opportunity to be her first (and yes, first _kiss_ would have to do) was too good to miss. Once he'd seen her kiss Jewfro he was sure he was going to be turned off of her forever so he reasoned that he might as well see if Berry could live up to his dreams, just this once.

She looked at him in surprise as he removed $2.50 from his wallet and slapped it down on the table.

"What are you doing?" she asked, perplexed.

"I'm saving you the embarrassment of having Jacob _Jewfro_ Israel as your first kiss, Berry." There was no fucking way that he was going to let Jewfro be the first to taste Rachel Berry.

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "I don't need you to save me from that ignominy; some people would consider _you_ to be _just_ as bad a choice as Jacob. Who knows where your mouth has been."

"Like shit as I am bad as that freak." How the hell could she put him in the same category as a Jew with a 'fro? "I'm a fucking stud babe and you should be glad that I'm doing this for you. I've never paid for anything from a chick _ever_, so just shut up and let me save your ass."

She snatched the money off the table and placed it in a tin. "_Fine_."

He nodded, suddenly nervous. He wasn't used to having to kiss on demand; they were normally spontaneous, spur of the moment things. He shuffled forward and placed a hand at the side of her head, trying to ignore the smoothness of her skin or the silkiness of her hair as it grazed the back of his fingers. The feel of the fiery gaze she was shooting his way was cut off as she shut her eyes and he closed the distance between their lips.

A thrill, almost like he'd been electrocuted, raced through his body. He felt her try to pull away but instead he drew her closer to him, cursing the table that stood in between them. He realised that she tasted like cherries (fucking delicious) and he swept his tongue over her lower lip to get a better taste. She gasped at the contact and he took the opportunity to explore her mouth further. He stroked his tongue against hers and groaned when she tentatively moved hers back. Of course, she was no kissing expert but the knowledge that he was the first to experience this with her was sending constant chills down his spine. His brain was fogging up and he knew he should probably pull away to take some air but he didn't want to stop. Turns out, making out with Rachel Berry? Fucking awesome. Dreaming about it was one thing but the actual act was something else altogether. He felt her put her hands on his chest and this time when she made to move back he allowed her, before he passed out from a lack of oxygen.

"I have a thirty second limit in place, Noah," she said slightly out of breath and the fog in his brain was making him feel confused. He shook his head. Thirty second limit? He stared at her in shock. She'd been fucking _counting_ how long they'd been kissing? What the hell?

Apart from the fact that she was breathing slightly erratically and her lips were red and slightly swollen she didn't look like she'd had the kiss of her life from Noah Puckerman at all. Had she not felt _any_ of what he had?

"And use of a tongue charges an extra five dollars." She pointed to some small print under the main kissing sign where it spelt out the tongue and 30-second-limit rules. He was speechless; utterly speechless. _She_ was to one who'd never had a kiss before and here he was, heart beating wildly, jeans uncomfortably tight and fucking Goosebumps present all over his body.

He wordlessly drew out the extra five dollars, afraid of what he'd say if he opened his mouth. There was no way in hell he was going to let Berry know what effect she'd had on him.

She smiled serenely at him as she accepted his money. "Pleasure doing business with you, Noah. Wow, two kisses in as many hours – you are a stud aren't you? At least tell me I was better than Finn, even if it was my _first_?"

"Of course you were fucking better," he growled, finally finding his voice.

He saw that she was looking at a point over his shoulder and he turned to discover Jewfro walking in their direction, looking excited. Puck moved out of the way in disgust. He decided then and there that he was going to force himself to watch their kiss; it was his only hope for regaining his sanity.

"Hey, Rachel!" Jacob said, holding a fistful of bills. "I've been saving my money for a while in the hopes that you'd do something like this. I've got enough money here for fifteen kisses!"

Puck didn't have the expected nausea swirling in his stomach it felt more like…anger and jealousy. Oh, shit.

"I'm afraid that there's a limit of one kiss per customer Jacob." Berry informed the creep and Puck almost let out a sigh of relief and he hated himself for it. "Perhaps you could support the underprivileged by buying some candy too."

"Sure, but let's get onto the hot stuff first. Here's the money." Puck saw Berry accept Jewfro's $2.50 and place it in her tin with his money.

Time seemed to slow as Berry and Jewfro's heads got closer and Puck felt his fists and gut clench in anger as their lips met. It seemed to go on for – fucking – _ever_ but he was pretty sure that it had lasted no longer that his and Finn's kiss earlier. Jewfro had made the mistake of not keeping a hold of her head and Berry was able to jerk away before things got too unpleasant.

Puck was dismayed to discover that he didn't want to vomit at the sight of them but instead he wanted to punch Jewfro's stupid face in. And Berry didn't look any less attractive post-Jewfro kiss. This was a fucking disaster of epic proportions.

Time sped up again as Puck saw Berry treat Jewfro with about as much disdain as she had treated him. How the fuck was that even possible?! He was obviously better than that freak in every potential way!

Jewfro was soon departing with a fistful of candy and a satisfied expression on his face.

Berry held the box of sugary treats towards him, smiling. "Candy?" she offered.

_Fuck,_ no.

* * *

A/N This chapter fulfils requests from chrpangel (who wanted Rachel to kiss Jacob) and FREAKTONIGHT (who wanted Puck to kiss a guy.) I also totally forgot to mention that Rachel being quiet for a day was requested by JClayton.

Sorry if any of that midterm stuff was wrong. Midterms are an alien concept to me! Oh, and how long should it take for Puck to get the results of his tests? A week?

Thanks to the requests that you guys have made I've actually got the rest of this story pretty much planned out but if you think of another dare just drop me a review and I'll see if I can squeeze it in.

And, seeing as this was an extra long chapter (my longest Glee chap to date) I think that deserves an extra amount of reviews, no? Well, whatever, just let me know if you're enjoying the fic. Remember, reviews = love.

I'm looking forward to next time round (with the possible appearance of one Sue Sylvester!)

Love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXx


	6. Meet the Parent

Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

A/N Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay; I've had a kerazy couple of weeks! Seriously, stressful times.

Anyway, Puckleberry action really gets you guys going, huh? Thank you for all the lovely reviews (the equal-most I've had for a Glee chapter), alerts and favourites. I love you all!

Chapter 6: Meet the Parent

* * *

Rachel frowned when Noah declined her offer of candy with slightly less than polite language. She was about to rebuke him for his rudeness when the sight of an incredibly tall person, who could only be Finn Hudson, caught her eye.

She could see Finn eyeing Noah nervously and Rachel wondered whether this was due to the kiss the two young men had shared earlier. She was intrigued at what defence Noah would come up with for his kiss but there were more pressing matters to attend to; she was behind a kissing booth, with Finn Hudson standing a few feet away from her. This was probably the only semi-socially acceptable chance Finn would have to kiss her (while he was still with Quinn Fabray) and she was determined to make the most of the opportunity.

"Hello, Finn," she greeted happily and she noticed Noah tense as he became aware of his best friend's presence. Noah started to leave but Finn grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Dude, let go," Noah growled, trying to free his arm from Finn's vice-like grip.

"No, man, I need to talk to you. Or, rather _you_ need to talk to _me_ about what the hell happened in History."

Noah sighed and lent against the lockers in defeat. "Fine," he spat, "but only because I don't want you to get the wrong idea."

Rachel was less than happy about being ignored by Finn and cleared her throat in order to get his attention. Finn turned to her in surprise.

"Oh, hey Rachel, I didn't see you there." He said. She thought that must have been some achievement on his part because she was standing behind a kissing booth in the middle of the corridor, bright pink lettering on her signs. She wasn't exactly hard to miss. "What's all this for?" he asked motioning to her booth.

"I'm raising money for charity," she explained cheerfully, "to bring musical theatre to the disadvantaged in our community."

Finn nodded. "Sounds cool."

"Did you want to make a contribution?" she pressed. "Kisses only cost $2.50."

Finn rubbed the back of his neck nervously "I would Rachel but, you know, Quinn might not be happy about it."

"Oh, I'm sure Quinn won't mind," Rachel lied. "It's for a charitable cause and seeing as Quinn is part of glee club I think she'd be happy that you promoted the musical arts."

Finn appeared to think about it for a moment before he shrugged and pulled out a couple of bills from his pocket. "Well, Quinn _does_ like Jesus and stuff so I think she'd be proud of me helping charity."

"Dude, you have a girlfriend," Noah unhelpfully pointed out.

"Didn't stop _you_ earlier, did it?" Finn shot back at him and Noah went silent, glaring at his friend.

Rachel accepted his money and couldn't believe she was about to have her third kiss in less than five minutes! She'd only been kissed on two occasions before today, both times, of course, by Finn. She'd been honest with Noah about her kissing experience; he'd just jumped to the conclusion that she'd lied about it. But enough about Noah, she was about to kiss Finn and she was determined to enjoy it.

She smiled shyly up at the quarterback and rose onto her tiptoes to press her lips against his. It was a chaste kiss, slightly longer than Jacob's but nowhere near as intimate as Noah's. It left her stomach fluttering and her lips tingling.

Rachel couldn't help but compare the kisses she'd received from the two young men in front of her (she decided that from this moment on, she'd pretend the Jacob kiss had never happened). Finn's kiss, while rather short, had been very nice; exactly how a kiss on the lips should be. But she wasn't naïve enough to deny that his kiss didn't match up to Noah's. _That_ kiss had been the most passionate she'd ever experienced but she heartily wished it hadn't come from _Noah Puckerman_. He'd spent the minutes preceding their union insulting her and then he decided he could _buy_ her first kiss as though it was something he could bid for and he claimed that he was doing her some sort of favour! The nerve of the boy! Consequently her veins had been pulsing with what she'd believed was anger and she'd assumed that the reason she'd been left short of breath at the end was because of the lack of oxygen. Now, she wasn't so sure. As Rachel looked back on it, she realised that Noah's kiss was good – it was more than good actually and, though she was loathe to admit it (to herself at least), it was the best she'd had. She consoled herself with the opinion that if Finn had kissed her in the way that Noah had, then she knew she wouldn't be having this internal discussion; a peck on the lips couldn't really compare to what she and Noah had shared, could it?

"Thank you for supporting my charity, Finn," Rachel said, beaming at him.

"No problem, Rach," he replied casually.

She glanced over at Noah and was surprised to see him looking furiously in their direction. She had no idea why he was so upset. Was he annoyed that she'd managed to complete her dare so easily (if you can call setting up a kissing booth in a couple of hours easy) while he now had to deal with the ramifications of _his_ kiss? She doubted that it was because she'd convinced Finn to be moderately unfaithful to Quinn; Noah wasn't known for his good morals when it came to relationships.

Finn turned towards Noah too but the Mohawked boy jumped in before Finn could say anything. "Look, dude, about earlier, I've just been feeling really messed up since my Gran died. I haven't been sleeping well and I was stressed about exams and stuff. I just got caught up in the moment; it didn't mean _shit_. You know that right? I'd be the _last_ person to go queer on you."

Finn frowned at his friend. "Sure, I suppose. But, you know you can like, _talk,_ to me about stuff that's getting you down – "

"The fuck, Hudson?" Noah exclaimed, staring at his friend in disgust. "Did that kiss turn _you_ into a homo?"

"What? No!" Finn retorted.

"Then fucking grow a pair and don't ever try to _talk_ to me again. Fuck's sake." Noah took off down the corridor and Rachel was quite pleased to see the back of him.

Finn turned back to her, a look of shock on his face.

Rachel gave him a sympathetic smile and shrugged her shoulders. "Candy?" she offered, holding the container towards him and she was pleasantly surprised when, unlike Noah earlier, Finn accepted.

* * *

Puck was certain that one of the scariest sights he was ever likely to be witness to was a smiling Rachel Berry standing on his doorstep on a drizzly Saturday afternoon, razor in hand.

"Who is it, sweetheart?" his mom asked coming to stand next to him at the front door. He winced at the name his mom gave him; he didn't want Berry (or anyone else for that matter) to know that his mom sometimes still treated him like a freaking five year old.

"Mrs. Puckerman?" Rachel asked brightly, stepping forward to hold out her hand (the one without the razor in it). His mom nodded and shook Berry's hand somewhat bemused. "I'm Rachel, Rachel Berry. I'm a friend of Noah's from glee club."

Puck winced…again. Why the hell couldn't she have just said 'from school'? They weren't exactly friends, either.

"Glee club?" His mom chuckled. "You didn't tell me you're in your school's glee club, Noah!"

He shrugged. "You never asked," he mumbled.

His mom clucked her tongue at him before realising that she had left Berry standing on the doorstep.

"Oh, so sorry, my dear," she said. "It's very nice to meet you, Rachel. Please, come on in out of the rain."

Puck definitely _did not_ want Rachel Berry in his house. He was getting sick of the sight of her or, more accurately, the way he reacted to her. Their ridiculously hot kiss had plagued his dreams all of last night and he'd been thinking about it constantly today too. And now, here she was…with a razor. He was worried about that part.

Something glinted just below Berry's neck and his mom seemed to notice it too because she gave a small gasp. "Rachel, are you Jewish?" she asked, looking as though all her dreams had come true.

Puck frowned and took a closer look at Berry's necklace. He nearly fell over in shock (despite his well-established badassness) because she was wearing the Star of David necklace from his dreams! He'd thought his subconscious had made that necklace up! Obviously not…

"Yes, I am, Mrs. Puckerman." Berry replied, fingering the necklace delicately. Puck realised that he was staring at her general chest area and didn't want his mother or Berry catching him in the act so he turned his gaze towards the floor.

"Oh, call me Hannah, sweetheart; there's no need for this Mrs. Puckerman business." Puck nearly groaned when he heard his mom transfer the 'sweetheart' over to Berry; she was going to be drawing up wedding plans as soon as Berry left.

"So, how can we help you, Rachel?" his mom asked.

"I'm here to shave Noah's Mohawk off, like we arranged." Berry explained sweetly. Puck whipped his head up to stare at her. _Oh, fuck no…_

"You've convinced Noah to get rid of that ridiculous haircut?" his mom asked in awe. "I've been trying to do that ever since he first got it!" His mom looked at him in surprise and he tried to look like the extermination of his awesome 'hawk wasn't news to him. This was obviously meant to be his next dare.

"He didn't take much persuading," Berry replied, grinning. Puck glared at her. Of course he didn't take much persuading – he didn't have a fucking choice!

"Goodness," his mom sighed and put her hand on his cheek, "my little Noah's finally growing up!"

"Mom!" he complained, roughly pushing her hand away. This was fucking humiliating. He was a BAMF for shit's sake, not a momma's boy?

"All right, I'll just leave you to it," his mom said, backing away from them. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything, Rachel."

"Thank you, Mrs. P – er, Hannah," Berry replied as his mom disappeared through the kitchen door.

Berry smiled up at him innocently. "So, shall we get started then?"

"How the fuck did you find out where I live?" he growled, ignoring her request.

"I asked Finn," she supplied. "I told him I was going to drop round a pamphlet about how to deal with losing a loved one. He thought it was a good idea considering you're so upset about your dead Grandmother that you've resorted to kissing your best friend."

"Well, I had to say something, didn't I? We can't all use a kissing booth as an excuse to kiss Finn." Talking of which; watching Berry and Hudson give into their nauseating G-rated urges made him want to kick his best friend's ass. _Badly_. The only good thing about that situation was that at least Puck had gotten to Berry's lips first.

"Where's your bathroom?" she asked, paying no attention to his jibe.

He led the way upstairs, still not quite believing that he was about to get rid of his 'hawk. His hairstyle was a friggin' part of him, man!

Puck tried to pluck the razor out of her hands but she held firm. "I'll do it, Noah, it's okay. I have to shave my Dad's head all the time. I know what I'm doing."

It was most definitely _not_ okay. Yes, she knew what she was doing, but she knew what she was doing a little too well. Her hands were driving him insane.

On any other occasion (and with many other people) it would be a good kind of insane but not when he was alone with Rachel Berry, in his bathroom. Her hands were so gentle, her touches so fleeting, that every single one sent a shiver down his spine and he was gripping the seat so hard that his knuckles had gone white. Quite frankly, it was fucking torture.

And the worst part? She didn't have a fucking clue what she was doing to him.

She was wearing a small denim skirt and her gorgeous long legs were never more than a couple of inches away from his body. He could see how smooth they were from this distance but that didn't prevent the incredibly strong urge he had to touch them for himself. He'd felt her breasts glance against his shoulders a couple of times and he'd had to bite his lip to keep from groaning. And then, when he thought it was all over, she stood between his legs and leant over so she could get a clearer view of her 'work', leaving Puck with an absolute eyeful of cleavage.

Two words: white lace.

His mind instantly wondered whether she was wearing matching panties and he was extremely fucking grateful that he was wearing his some-what constricting jeans and not the sweatpants he'd had on earlier.

Berry pulled him down to the kitchen to show his mother and he somehow managed to stumble down the stairs without breaking his neck.

"Oh, Noah, that's much better." His mom said.

"He's agreed not to go back to the Mohawk for a while," Berry announced and Puck did a double take. Had he agreed? He remembered responding to Berry occasionally whilst in the bathroom but what he'd said, he has no idea. He figured it was just best to play along.

"Well, that's excellent. Did you want to stay for dinner, Rachel?" his mom asked and Puck rolled his eyes at his mother's lack of subtlety.

"That would be lovely, Hannah, thank you." Berry replied before Puck could make an excuse for her not to stay. "My Dads are out of town today and they won't be back until late."

"Great. I have to pick up Noah's sister now but I'll get started on dinner straight after that. Noah," he met her gaze sullenly, annoyed that he was stuck with Berry for a little longer. "Make sure you take care of our guest while I'm gone."

Puck grunted as his mother left to go pick up Sarah from a friend's house.

"So, what do you wanna do?" he asked Berry. "And before you ask, no, we don't have any musicals that you can watch." That was a lie, his mom had loads, but Berry didn't need to know that.

"Oh, well, what would you be doing if I wasn't here?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Probably playing on the Xbox."

"Okay, we can do that if you want?

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Seriously? I've only got racing and shooting games; nothing girly."

"That'll be fine," Berry assured him and Puck wondered if he'd fallen down the stairs and whacked his head after all.

Turns out, Rachel Berry? Totally kicks ass at video games. Yeah, Puck was fucking shocked too when she beat him round the race track three times in a row. He wasn't even doing that 'letting the girl win' thing that some pansy-assed guys did for their girlfriends. Firstly, because Berry was absolutely _not_ his girlfriend and secondly, he didn't do stupid shit like that (he was a stud, he didn't need to make girls like him).

Berry took no time in explaining to him that her dad's gayness (his word, not hers) didn't stop them from liking video games like practically every other guy.

He supposed it shouldn't surprise him how competitive she was; this was Rachel Berry, after all. But he was shocked at how sexy he found her when she was screeching at the alien to 'hurry up and DIE!' Working together, they totally thumped his and Finn's previous top score and honestly, he didn't think he'd ever liked her more.

Thankfully his mom yelled to say that dinner was ready before he got the chance to think about that any further. He didn't want to like Rachel Berry – not after she'd made him shave off his Mohawk, kiss a dude and cry in front of a bunch of people. _Wanting_ her; he'd gotten used to that by now, but _liking? _That wasn't fucking okay.

Berry spent the first fifteen minutes telling his mom and sister her freaking life story. They seemed fascinated; he wasn't.

"Are you a cheerleader?" Sarah asked Berry.

"No," she replied, "I've never felt a particular calling to be a cheerleader. My talents are better served elsewhere."

"Good!" Sarah said. "Noah's last girlfriend was a cheerleader and she was _really_ mean."

"Rachel's _not_ my girlfriend," Puck insisted perhaps a little bit too aggressively and everyone ate in silence for a moment.

"You know, I've always thought that cheerleading breeds a certain type of girl," his mom said, much to Puck's annoyance. "No matter the generation, they always seem to end up the same."

"I think there are _some_ nice cheerleaders," Berry said weakly and Puck rolled his eyes. Cheerleaders weren't _that_ bad. Okay so he hadn't technically spoken to many of them but what they _had_ shared had been more than nice.

His mom and Sarah were both looking at Berry like she was some kind of Jewish saint and he was totally not putting up with that shit. He needed to bring her down. Now.

"But you've got a cheerleading tryout this week, don't you?" he asked, and tried not to laugh at the puzzled expression on Berry's face.

"Cheerleading tryout?" she frowned, clearly not grasping that this was going to be her next dare.

"Yeah, you asked me to pull a few strings so you could tryout for the Cheerio's. You said I _dare_n't forget, otherwise you'd throw a hissy fit at me."

"Oh, y-yes." Berry stuttered. "How silly of me. Should I be accepted onto the squad, I planned to set an example to the rest of the cheerleaders as to the correct way a young woman should behave."

Puck rolled his eyes. That was the worst on-the-spot lie he'd ever heard. Setting an example to the Cheerios? They'd fucking eat her alive if she actually made it onto the squad, which Quinn would make sure _never_ happened; Quinn hated Berry more than she loved that Jesus dude.

"Well, that sounds like a splendid idea, Rachel." His mom declared. "I'm sure you'll be able to knock those girls into shape, morally speaking."

The Star of David laying on Berry's chest was obviously shielding her bullshitting from his mom. He'd meant to embarrass Berry but he didn't think his mom would think anything bad of her unless she started gnawing the flesh off Sarah's bones right there at the dinner table. He supposed he'd been fucked in regards to his mom's opinion of Berry as soon as she'd seen her damn necklace. He was just gonna have to hope that Berry suffered complete and utter public humiliation when she had her tryout, otherwise this was going to be a huge fucking waste of a dare (he'd had to shave off his 'hawk for shit's sake; the chick had to suffer!)

Before Puck could do anything to prevent it, the conversation shifted to glee club and his mom and sister wasted no time in imploring the two of them to sing. Puck was going to refuse, he really was, but then his mom asked him to help her take the dishes back into the kitchen.

"Noah, if you don't sing with Rachel I swear on your Grandmother's grave I will tell that girl every embarrassing detail about you that I know."

And so, once again, he was left with no fucking choice. His mom could be really scary when she wanted and there was a _lot_ of shit that he didn't want Berry to know. It would be more humiliating for her to know that he'd slept with a stuffed lion called Roary 'til he was 13 (the damn lion was still hidden at the bottom of his cupboard) than it would be to sing a couple of songs with her for his mom and sister.

So they sang 'Against All Odds', of course, but then Berry made things worse perfect-Jewish-daughter-in-law-wise by singing 'People' from 'Funny Girl' and Puck thought he could see fucking tears in his mom's eyes. Which led to him and Berry singing the perfect Jewish-combo; 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers' and this time there was no mistaking the tears flowing down his mom's cheeks. Fuck's sake.

Before he could get bullied into singing another song he announced that Berry had to leave and thank-fuck-fully she got the hint that he wanted her to get the hell out of his house.

His mom and Sarah showered Berry in praises and made her promise to visit again soon, much to his irritation. Then his mom made sure he walked her to the door, which he thought was fucking retarded because the door was like ten feet away but he humoured her; he wanted Roary to stay a secret, thanks.

"The cheerleaders will never agree to give me a tryout, Noah," Berry said as he shoved her coat in her face.

"Don't worry, Berry, I'll make it happen." He assured her. "Santana'll do anything for a taste of the Puckerone."

She wrinkled her nose at him. "You're so crass, Noah. I can't believe you're related to Sarah and Hannah at all. Are you sure there wasn't a mix up at the hospital?"

"Goodbye, Berry," he sighed and pushed her into the darkness, slamming the door behind her. He tried to disappear up to his room but his mom grabbed his arm before he could move three feet.

"Oh, Noah, I can't believe you actually listened to what I said last week about dating Jewish girls." She said, holding his face in her hands. "Rachel's _perfect;_ streets ahead of the hussy's I normally see you with; she's smart, polite, _Jewish_, beautiful, oh, and her _voice! _That girl is an absolute keeper, Noah, don't you dare mess this up!"

"Mom, how many times do I have to tell you," he replied, pulling her hands away from his head. "She's _not_ my girlfriend! I don't even _like_ the crazy chick."

"Of course you don't like her," Sarah chirped as she came to stand near him. "You _love_ her!" she teased, jumping back when Puck moved to grab her.

"Oh my God, you take that back right now, brat, or I'm going to – "

"Noah…" his mother warned and Puck fucking cursed his luck for living with two females.

"You _love_ her and you want to _sing_ with her and you want to _kiss_ her and you want to _marry_ her and you want to have _babies_ with her and you want to live in a _castle_ with her like she's Cinderella and you're Prince Charming!" Sarah sang.

_Fuck my life._

* * *

A/N Oh, how I do like to torture the poor boy.

The first part of the chapter was for Lil0, because she wanted to see Finn's reaction and Rachel just took advantage of the situation, the little minx!

'People' is sung by Barbra Streisand and 'You Don't Bring Me Flowers' is a duet by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond.

I'm sorry if I offended any cheerleaders. I don't know any so I just sorta went with the stereotype. I'm sure there are _lots_ of nice cheerleaders out there. It was TheFaceInTheCrowd's suggestion to have Rachel try out for the Cheerio's so we'll see how that goes next time round.

I have good news for me, which is probably bad news for you, but my parents asked me to go to Rome for a few days over my Easter break and I wasn't about to turn down a free holiday! I'm ultra excited because even though I've been before, Rome is my _favourite_ city that I've visited! Unfortunately this might mean a little wait for the next chapter; I'll try to get it out before I go but I'm not making any promises.

As I mentioned in my other glee fic, I'm begging you guys to put NO mention of the back 9 episodes in your reviews. I really don't want to get spoiled!

The review response was brilliant for the last chapter so keep it up please!

Ciao (see, I'm practicing my Italian!)

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXx


	7. Spies and Songs

Discalimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

Buon Giorno! Thank you to all those who wished me a happy holiday in Rome. I had a really great time. And, of course, grazie to all the reviewers, alerter and favourites! Extra pizza for you guys!

Chapter 7: Spies and Songs

* * *

The moment that Rachel Berry had been dreading happened in the change over from second to third period on Monday morning. She had just deposited some books in her locker when she turned round to find Quinn Fabray standing in front of her, flanked by Santana and Brittany. All three had their hands on their hips and disgusted expressions on their faces. Rachel gulped.

"Be in the gym at half past twelve." Quinn instructed, coolly. "Try to find something _athletic_ to wear from your assortment of pre-school costumes."

Rachel nodded. She was simultaneously impressed that Noah had gotten her a tryout and terrified at the animosity radiating from her fellow glee club members. She sincerely hoped that the cheerleaders would leave now.

They didn't.

Instead, Quinn walked forwards threateningly and Rachel took a step back, coming up against her locker. Was Quinn going to kill her?

"And if you _ever_ kiss my boyfriend again, I'll pray that God sends you _straight to hell_."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. Quinn's threats definitely needed a little work but Rachel wasn't going to offer her assistance in that endeavour.

Santana rolled her eyes. "And we'll prepare a course of 'Nair' treatment that'll leave you too humiliated to show your face in this school." This warning concerned Rachel a lot more. She clutched her hair fearfully and tried to not look too intimidated.

With a last hateful look, the cheerleaders turned away and Rachel was left to worry about how tortuous they were going to make her tryout.

She arrived at the gym at 12:29pm in her normal Phys Ed clothes. Standing in the centre of the huge room were just Coach Sylvester and Quinn. Rachel was mildly relieved that she didn't have to suffer humiliation in front of the entire Cheerios squad. However she wouldn't be surprised if Quinn had employed someone to install video cameras to record her attempts and later broadcasted them on the internet. She glanced around quickly but couldn't see any cameras but that didn't mean that they weren't there…

Rachel wasn't _awful_ at the skills required to be a cheerleader; she could dance, was quite flexible and could perform cartwheels to a certain standard, but she knew she wasn't anywhere near National standard.

She walked nervously towards the two women, feeling vaguely like she was walking to her death.

Quinn was glaring coldly at her while Coach Sylvester seemed to be sizing her up.

"So, you want to be one of the elite, Berry?" Coach Sylvester asked. "You're fed up of being minor league and you want in on the big time?"

Rachel nodded. "I would like to become a Cheerio, yes." She lied. Her voice sounded unsure and she knew that the other two could sense her hesitancy.

Coach Sylvester walked slowly around her and Rachel tried not to shrivel on the spot. "I don't work with time wasters, Rachel, so unless you're the real deal I suggest you get the hell out of my sight before I feed you to my Rottweiler. She doesn't get fed often – it makes her more effective at keeping brats off of my lawn."

"No, I want to be here," Rachel replied more determinedly. _I have no choice_. "I'm always committed to giving my best in whatever I undertake."

Quinn rolled her eyes but Coach Sylvester nodded.

"Q, you're dismissed."

Quinn turned to the older woman in shock. "What?"

"I said you can leave, I'll deal with Rachel."

Quinn looked like she really didn't want to go but she cowered under Coach Sylvester's stare and trotted out of the room, glaring at Rachel over her shoulder.

Rachel wasn't sure whether Quinn leaving was a good thing or not; she didn't want to be left alone with Sue Sylvester.

There was silence until the door to the gym was shut. "Okay, Berry, drop the act. I know why you're really here."

Rachel gasped. How could Coach Sylvester know about her and Noah's dares? They hadn't told a soul.

"Schuester sent you to spy on me, didn't he?" Her voice had morphed into that scary tone that she used when she was planning someone's destruction.

"What? No!" Rachel cried. "Mr. Schue doesn't even know I'm here!"

Coach Sylvester let out a bark of laughter. "Right, and Condoleezza didn't know _I_ was in Kabul." She retorted sarcastically.

Rachel scrunched up her face in confusion. _What?_ "I swear Mr Schue didn't send me here to spy on you."

"So, you want to play the ignorance game, huh? I'd admire you for that if it didn't make me want to vomit all over your gym shorts. You're committed to Schuester's cause, I can see that. You know, I can't help but be curious as to how long you'd maintain this lie under torture," Coach Sylvester laid a hand on Rachel's shoulder and the young girl couldn't prevent the shudder that passed through her. "But, as I found out last year, the State of Ohio doesn't grant me the authority to solve that answer. They'll probably jail me if another student in this school ends up unconscious in my office."

Rachel stared at the coach in horror. What on Earth had Noah gotten her into?! She nearly sagged in relief when Coach Sylvester removed her hand.

"So Schuester wants to start playing games does he? He wants to even out the battlefield? Fine, I've got nothing to hide." Coach Sylvester held out a hand and Rachel flinched. "Welcome to the Cheerios, Rachel Berry."

* * *

Rachel walked subconsciously through the halls of McKinley just before the first period after lunch. Wherever she went people were whispering and staring at her. She couldn't blame them. She was quite shocked at the turn of events too. But she plastered a smile on her face and tried not to look too uncomfortable in her new uniform.

She retrieved her books from her locker and turned round to find someone standing in front of her, just like that morning, but this time it was Noah. He was looking at her with disbelief and another emotion that she couldn't quite place.

"Is this real?" he asked hoarsely and Rachel frowned.

"You're not dreaming if that's what you mean."

"But, how the fuck did you get on the squad? I mean, Quinn hates your guts and – "

"Well, it turns out that it isn't really Quinn's decision who gets on the squad." Rachel looked around to see if anyone was listening. Everyone was staring at her but she decided to tell Noah anyway. "Coach Sylvester thinks I'm a spy for Mr. Schue," she whispered and Noah instantly burst out laughing.

"A _spy_? Seriously? That's the funniest shit I've heard in weeks."

"She didn't want me to the normal tryout stuff; I asked her if she wanted me to do a cartwheel but she said she didn't care if I couldn't tie my shoelaces!"

Noah laughed again and Rachel glared at him. "I'm glad you find this all so amusing. Do you have any idea how much of my time is going to be taken up by my extra commitment to the Cheerios now? Time that should be spent on preparing myself for Sectionals?"

Noah sighed. "Well just quit then. No one's forcing you to be there."

Rachel huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Coach Sylvester won't let me. She says if I quit then she'll have proof that I'm a spy because I'll have gathered all my intelligence to report back to Mr. Schue. She threatened to disband Glee and _disembowel_ me if I left, Noah!"

Noah shrugged. "Well, you're just going to have to give up some of your glee time then. It's about time you had to put up with some shit because of these dares; everyone thinks I'm a fucking homo because of the singing, the crying and, you know, _Finn_. Missing a few hours of singing practice isn't going to hurt you and it's not like you even fucking need it anyway."

Rachel glared at him. "If we lose Sectionals because of my lack of preparation time, I will come round your house for dinner _every_ weekend until I leave for college in just under three years time."

"What? What kind of crazy psycho _bitch_ _are_ you?" Noah snapped.

Rachel's hand had connected with the side of Noah's face before she'd even processed her anger. The resulting _crack_ echoed in the hallway as everyone held their breath.

Rachel instantly regretted what she'd done but it wasn't as though she could take it back. He was one of many people who had insulted her before and she couldn't explain why she'd reacted so violently. "I don't appreciate being called names," she muttered, avoiding Noah's stunned expression. Her hand stung as she walked quickly down the corridor, hugging her books tightly against her chest.

* * *

Puck was in one of his shittiest moods ever. These moods seemed to be becoming more frequent since he and Berry had started their game. Damn fucking Berry.

He knew, without even having to look, that his cheek was still red from where she'd slapped him nearly two hours ago. People had already been staring at him because of his dearly departed 'hawk but now his cheek seemed to be sending out a fucking beacon for people to stop and openly gape at him!

Despite her miniscule frame, Berry could still deliver a more than decent stinger. In fact, it was right up there with the most painful he'd ever received from a Cheerio (it was definitely the most humiliating). Speaking of which, it was probably some record in the length of time it'd taken a new cheerleader to smack him one. She could've only been a Cheerio for about half an hour. Yup, unquestionably a record.

He still couldn't believe that Berry was a fucking Cheerio though. He honestly thought he'd been dreaming when he saw her in the uniform (a Cheerio-clad Berry had appeared in his dreams more than once).

And then she'd had the gall to whinge about being accepted onto the squad even though she didn't have to suffer any public humiliation with a god awful try out! The dares that she'd had to do were easy as fuck compared to what she'd put him through. He supposed that it was mostly his fault seeing as he'd made them up, but for some reason she just knew how to really get under his skin.

And then she'd fucking slapped him. _Even though_ he'd just given her a compliment. It was small and not totally obvious but he _had_ just complimented her singing and then she went all crazy on him. He'd called her names before and she'd _never_ slapped him. Did wearing a Cheerios uniform instantly turn girls into violent bitches? That was probably something worth investigating at some point…

But one of the most annoying aspects of the whole situation was that he'd found their exchange totally hot. Cheerios uniform? Hot. Berry loosing her shit about something? Hot. Berry slapping him? _Fucking_ hot.

He was beginning to think that there wasn't any situation in which he wouldn't find Rachel Berry hot. And that was fucking _weird._

He strolled reluctantly into the music room for glee rehearsal. He really, really didn't want to be here.

All the gleeks apart from Quinn (and Santana and Brittany, who didn't seem to be there yet) were making a fuss over Berry's new uniform. Everyone gave his hand marked face an amused look before turning their attention back to Berry. Puck scowled and sank into the seat next to Quinn.

"What the fuck happened, Fabray?" he growled. "She was supposed to be a laughing stock."

"There was nothing I could do; Coach overruled me." Quinn complained. "Do you think I _want_ to see that little freak tainting the Cheerios legacy?"

"No, I just thought you'd put up more of a fight."

Quinn scoffed. "As if even _you_ would go up against Coach Sylvester."

Puck shrugged. It was probably true and it didn't even cost him any badass points to admit it – Coach Sylvester was fucking terrifying.

The two of them sullenly watched the rest of glee club fawn over Berry. Puck was not impressed that instead of Berry's (admittedly already meagre) social standing suffering a dip, she was probably only going to get more popular instead.

"Is that _her_ handiwork lighting up your face?" Quinn asked.

"Uh-huh." He confirmed. There were a few moments of silence before Quinn spoke again.

"Is there something going on with you two?"

"What? _Fuck_ no. The girl's a fucking lunatic!" His response was a bit over the top and he could feel Quinn's gaze scrutinizing him.

"Whatever," she muttered as Mr. Schue came into the room to start the rehearsal. Puck highly doubted that he'd managed to convince Quinn that there wasn't more to his relationship (he wasn't really sure what other word to use) with Berry than it seemed.

"Guys, I have some great news," Mr Schuester announced. "Principal Figgins has asked us to provide some entertainment for the Halloween assembly on Friday."

Everyone apart from Berry believed that this was the opposite of 'great news'. Singing in front of the rest of the school? Puck had done that in the cafeteria; he wasn't about to do it again.

"Now, I'm going to let you guys have the deciding vote over what we sing. We've been given enough time for two songs – "

"I vote Rachel performs two solos." Kurt suggested. "She can represent us."

"S-seconded," added Tina and everyone else muttered their assent.

Mr. Schue frowned and was about to try to change their minds when Berry hopped down from her seat to stand in front of them all.

"While I am truly honoured that you thought my talent deserving of the spotlight," she started and Puck had a horrible feeling that he wasn't going to like what she said next. "I think it's only fair that a fellow member of the glee club performs the second song." She smiled at them all but then her gaze landed on him, just like he fucking knew it would. Her smile grew, but he thought it was like in those horror movies where the hot girl looks all sexy and then she sprouts fangs and rips your fucking head off. "Noah?"

He could feel everyone's gaze on him, expecting him to tell her when she could stick her solo. He really, really hated this fucking game.

"Bring it." He muttered, and Berry bounced happily on the balls of her feet like a fucking five year old.

"Noah and I will pick the songs, Mr. Schue. You won't have to worry about a thing. I don't want mine and Noah's performances to detract from out preparations for Sectionals."

Mr Schue seemed to be getting swept along by her enthusiasm and he simply nodded and said, "Okay." before getting the rehearsal properly underway.

Puck really couldn't understand Berry sometimes (Okay, most of the time. But right not he was majorly confused). Just a few hours ago she was all pissed off because being in the Cheerios was going to take up her time and now she'd volunteered herself for _more_ singing which would give her even less time to rehearse for glee! You can see why he thought she was crazy.

She cornered him after rehearsal was done. Her eyes lingered on his cheek and he thought she was going to say something about it but she didn't.

"This can be a dare for both of us."

He rolled his eyes. "That would be a total waste; you love singing to anything that moves."

"I suggest we pick each other's song. We each have to sing whatever the other person picks."

He hesitated, this didn't sound too bad…

"And we have to dress in the corresponding outfit to the song chosen." Berry continued.

"I'm not singing a chick's song if that's what you're getting at." Puck said.

"Oh, Noah, I wouldn't dream of trying to humiliate you by requesting that you sing a song by a female vocalist. I think it should be agreed that we each have to perform a song made famous by our own gender."

Puck frowned. He had a feeling that he was majorly going to regret this but he hadn't thought of another dare for her so he might as well go along with it.

"Whatever," he muttered and Berry beamed at him again.

"Excellent. I think we should give each other the choice of song and hand over the outfit first thing on Wednesday morning, in order to give each other time to prepare."

"I have to fucking pay for your costume?" he groaned. She ignored him.

"See you Wednesday morning!"

He glared at the place she'd just run off from when out of the corner of his eye he saw her hesitating at the door.

One of her hands was resting on the door frame and she was looking back at him, biting her lip.

"I'm sorry about…earlier, Noah. I shouldn't have hit you; it was most uncivilised of me."

He shrugged. "S'okay, Berry." His apology was on the tip of his tongue before he remembered that he didn't fucking say sorry to chicks. _Ever_. (Apart from his mom and his sister but that was different).

She seemed to be waiting for it but he was damned if he was going to give in. What the fuck made her so special? She _had_ been acting like a crazy bitch.

She looked down and nodded forlornly. Her sneaker scuffed the ground and she turned to leave again.

_For FUCK'S sake._

"I'm sorry I called you a bitch," he ground out. He was surprised his dick didn't shrivel up and fall off then and there.

"You're forgiven, Noah." She smiled a normal smile (instead of one of her demented ones) and he totally hated the way it made his chest feel.

He pondered the sort of song he could get her to sing as he drove home from school. He'd have to decide tonight so that he'd have time to buy her outfit. (Seriously? He had to fuckin _pay_ for this shit-ass game now?)

The one thing that he could think of that he could exploit about Berry in this dare was that she was kind of a prude. She tried to prove otherwise with her tiny little skirts (which she wore with lame-ass sweaters) and that fucking speech she gave to the celibacy club. But as far as he knew she'd only gotten to first base with three guys and all of them had fucking paid for the privilege. Sure, she'd done that 'Push It' song but she'd been pretty decently covered up and was wearing those freaky knee pads. Now, if he told her to wear something majorly slutty and sing a solo in front of the _entire_ school, he doubted she'd do it. And if she did? Then he'd get to see Berry wear some awesome slutty clothes. It was a win/win situation.

He spent the night researching sexy music videos until he had his final one. This outfit would totally do Berry's killer legs justice (she probably had the best legs he'd ever seen which was weird considering she was so fucking tiny).

He printed off an image of the singer and took it to school the next morning. During lunch he managed to find Kurt and shoved the piece of paper at him.

"Is there a particular reason you're showing me an image of this icon?" Kurt asked.

"That's the song Berry's going to sing on Friday. She asked me to ask you if you could get a matching outfit for her 'cause she doesn't have time with all the Cheerios shit."

See, there was no way Puck would have any idea where to start to try and find those clothes for Berry. He would've asked Quinn but she was kinda virginal and probably wouldn't know where to get those clothes either (and he was a little worried that she'd find out about the way he was reacting to Berry's annoying hotness.) Santana wouldn't do anything unless there was something in it for her and he didn't have time for her shit so he'd been forced to turn to Kurt.

Puck shoved a fistful of dollars at him. "Can you get it to me first thing tomorrow morning?"

Kurt raised an eyebrow. Puck had a feeling Kurt was going to be on to them soon too.

"Sure."

Puck could feel Kurt's gaze on him all the way down the corridor and it kind of freaked him out.

But, true to his word, Kurt handed over a bag containing the clothes on Wednesday morning. "Rachel owes me another $20."

"The fuck, man? I already gave you forty."

Kurt sighed. "You know _nothing_ about fashion."

Puck was about to retort that 'no, he didn't, and was quite fucking pleased about it,' when he saw Berry walking towards him.

"Whatever, man" he muttered at Kurt. "I'll tell her."

He strode forward to meet Berry (it was still totally weird to see her in a Cheerios uniform) and shoved the sheet music to her song into the bag of clothes.

"All ready?" she asked, and he nodded. They swapped bags and before he could say anything to her she bounded off.

He took a few moments to peruse the contents of his bag. He knew why she'd run off now.

He was going to fucking kill her.

* * *

A/N Ooooh! Cliffhanger. Slightly mean, I know, but I just couldn't help myself!

Now, if anyone manages to guess the songs that I have chosen I will give you 100 Brownie points. There are a couple of clues in there and if you think about something that Rachel's been told about him then you might be able to guess what Puck's song is.

Okay, I'll stop teasing you now.

In case you didn't already know, I started writing a Puckleberry one-shot when I was in Rome and I posted it a couple of days ago. It's my holiday present to you all. Ooh! And when I was having breakfast in Rome one day, what should start playing on the radio? Against All Odds (Mariah Carey version)! Weeeeeird.

By the way, what did you guys think of Sue? She was really weird to write for!

I'm not too sure when the next update is going to be because I'm about to enter an 8 week work placement for my degree so I'm going to be ultra busy. I shall try to find time to fit updates in though.

I'm seriously loving the reviews at the mo! Don't forget to send in your guesses!

Love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXx


	8. Spinning Free

Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

A/N Yay! I'm back. Thanks for being so patient for this chapter and after I gave you an evil cliffie too!

Thank you guys SO much for all the reviews – it was the most I've ever had for a single fanfic chapter.

Your guesses were awesome and I will put a little…notice here about the songs that they sing. They're both by famous artists but they're not their most famous songs so, hopefully you'll know them. If not, I suggest you do a quick google so you can check out their outfits and get a clearer idea what this chapter is about.

Um, let's get on with the chapter shall we!

Chapter 8: Spinning Free

* * *

Puck twitched the stage curtain to the side slightly. _Shit._ There were so many more people at this school than he'd thought there were. And in a moment they were all going to be witness to the most humiliating few minutes of his life. Forget crying, singing in the cafeteria and probably even that stupid Finn kiss. This was on a completely different level.

He'd come _so_ close to jacking this whole game in when he'd found out what Berry'd dared him to sing. She'd even left him a little note explaining her choice of song and he seriously couldn't fucking believe that an offhand comment he'd made to Finn a few weeks ago was coming back to majorly bite him in the ass.

She'd written in her damn note that while there were plenty of _songs_ about dudes looking like or dressed as chicks, there weren't many performances by groups where they were actually wearing women's clothes. So, he wasn't, in fact, wearing a dress but that little detail did not make his situation better in any possible way.

So, yeah, he'd thought about calling it quits – he was sure his friends wouldn't think him a total pussy considering what Berry was asking him to do but…Noah Puckerman _wasn't_ a quitter. He'd never backed down from a single thing before and he wasn't about to start now – however humiliating the consequences might be.

He'd stumbled into his biology class first thing on Wednesday morning and suddenly realised that there was possibly an out to all of this; he had _completely_ forgotten about his midterms. If he hadn't managed to get an 'A' then he wouldn't have to do the song on Halloween!

He could see the biology midterms sitting on the teacher's desk and he scowled at them. He found it really odd that after all that fucking studying he'd done he was now hoping that he'd…well, not failed, but at least not gotten an 'A'.

Their teacher always gave out their papers in reverse, so the first few people to get their test back were the ones that had done the shittest and things got better the later you got your paper. It was a pretty cruel way of giving them back because everyone knew if you'd fucked up on a paper. Puck normally _was_ one of those first few and to be honest he hadn't used to give a flying fuck when he'd been given his test back but now he was hoping to have it sooner rather than later.

However, as Mrs Smith shuffled around the room his paper failed to appear on his desk. When the teacher gave Matt his test back Puck glanced over and saw that Rutherford had gotten a 'B'. There was still time for him to not get an 'A' if Mrs Smith gave him his test like, _right now_.

And thankfully, that's what she appeared to be doing. Mrs Smith was smiling at him, something that she'd never done before (but not because she never smiled at anyone; she just didn't like him, crazy bitch), and there were only a few papers left in her hand.

"A much better showing from you, Noah Puckerman." She said, placing the paper on his desk. "Now I know what you're capable of I expect similar results in the future."

Puck didn't really hear what she said. All his attention was taken up by the big red 'A-' standing out at the top of his test paper.

"_Fuck_," he muttered harshly, causing Matt to look over at him.

"Dude, you got an A?" Matt asked in obvious disbelief as he too saw the grade. "How the hell did you manage that?"

"What? It's not like I'm an idiot or anything."

"I know, but you always said that 'A's were for nerds who had never gotten laid."

"Yeah, well, Mrs Smith's been giving me some _private_ tuition," Puck replied making sure that his tone of voice was suggestive. It wasn't a completely fucked up idea; Mrs Smith looked to be in her mid-thirties and was actually quite hot when she wasn't looking at him like he was a complete waste of her time.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Whatever, dude. Mrs. Smith is married."

Puck raised an eyebrow at his friend. "That's never stopped a cougar before."

Matt shook his head slightly but didn't say anything because Mrs. Smith was starting the class.

In Spanish later that day things were made even worse when Mr Schue informed him that he'd managed to get an 'A' in that midterm too. And Schue looked all proud of him and shit. It was nauseating.

So he was left with no real choice but to do this fucking dare.

He let go of the stage curtain and it swung back to its normal position.

He heard the click of high heels and turned to see Berry standing behind him, her body covered up in some sort of robe, just like his was. He hadn't spoken to her since that Wednesday morning. He'd kinda been avoiding her because he just _knew_ she'd be all smug about how fucking humiliating his dare was going to be.

"Noah! This outfit is entirely inappropriate – people will be able to see the cheeks of my…derrière!" Berry cried and Puck shook his head in disbelief.

"You've got some fucking nerve," he growled. "People are going to see your ass; big fuckin' deal. I'm wearing a black fucking mini skirt, a fucking garter belt and stockings, high fucking heels," he was walking towards her as he spoke, trying not to fall over in the shoes, "a fucking wig, some fake fucking plastic earings and some fucking fake boobs!" He was practically shouting at her now but he was beyond the point of caring. He unloosened the dressing gown covering his clothes and threw it to the side to show Berry his outrageous costume.

Berry raked her eyes over his clothes before promptly bursting into giggles. This did not improve his mood.

"Wow, Noah, I do believe you're right. I have absolutely no right to complain when you're looking…like that. I honestly thought you'd quit before you put any of that outfit on."

"The word 'quit' is not part of my vocabulary, Berry. You're going to have to try harder than that to win this game." Puck hoped she couldn't tell how close she'd gotten to getting him to give in. He was going to have to think of an outrageous dare for her to do next otherwise he could very well end up as the loser.

Berry had shown time and again that she was an awesome player of dare. Seriously, he had major respect for her; Rachel Berry was a total badass at this game. It was fucking hot.

Speaking of which…

"Come on, I've shown you mine," he reached out for the belt of her robe, "let me see yours."

"Noah!" she admonished, swatting his hand away. "I do not wish to remove my robe until the last moment. It's freezing back here and your choice of outfit means there's not an awful lot of my body covered by clothing."

He knew he should still be fucking furious with her for making him dress like a gay but his dick was overriding his thoughts at the moment. He _really_ wanted to see her in her costume, like, now.

"You don't have to take the robe off," he reasoned, "just let me see what the clothes look like underneath."

Berry bit her lip and looked down at the floor. "All right, but…don't laugh, okay?"

"You laughed at me." Puck retorted.

"Yes, but your outfit is _supposed_ to be funny."

Puck rolled his eyes. "Okay, I promise I won't laugh."

"You know, I was quite surprised by your song choice, Noah."

"What?" Puck shrugged. "Kylie's hot for a midget."

"Yes, but –"

"Did you just agree that Kylie's hot? Because _that's_ hot."

Berry sighed. "What I _meant_ was this isn't one of her most famous songs. Why did you choose it?"

_Because I wanted to see you in the tiny gold hot pants_. "I liked the song, I suppose."

"Do you not find it ironic that we both picked artists that are very well known but chose songs of theirs that are not particularly popular?"

"Berry, I couldn't give a shit if I tried. Now quit stalling and let me see your outfit."

Berry sighed and unfastened the tie around her waist. Puck held his breath. She was just about to open it up when someone called out, "Rachel?"

Puck nearly let out a frustrated sound when Berry redid the robe up and they both turned to the side to see Matt and Mike walking towards them.

"What are you two doing here?" Puck asked.

Matt and Mike both stopped in shock, their eyes wide and their mouths open.

"Puck?" Mike asked uncertainly.

"What the hell's up with you, fuckwit?" Puck asked.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Matt gasped, his eyes travelling from the black wig perched on top of his head right down to the smart black heels that were hurting his feet like hell.

"We're doing songs for the Halloween assembly remember?" Puck reminded them. He was trying to act as cool as he possibly good while looking like some queer in drag.

"Yeah, but why are you wearing…that?" Mike wondered, his eyes lingering on the fake boobs underneath his tight pink top.

"Because it goes with the song that Noah's singing." Berry explained but this didn't improve the looks on Matt and Mike's faces. Puck knew he'd have to have a better explanation than that for people to believe that he wasn't just a cross-dressing homo.

"And, you know, it's Halloween, so I wanted to scare people; I'm the trick and Berry's the treat." Berry smiled at him for that description and he hated the way that it made him feel slightly better.

Mike nodded slowly. "I suppose that makes some sort of freaky sense. But, dude, couldn't you have just dressed as like an axe murderer something?"

"Whatever. I still don't get why you're here," Puck pointed out.

"We're Rachel's backing dancers." Matt explained and Puck turned a glare in Berry's direction.

"The fuck Berry? This is supposed to be a _solo_," he objected.

"It _is_ a solo." Berry insisted. "Matt and Mike aren't singing, just dancing. I thought the overall performance would be more aesthetically pleasing if I wasn't on the stage on my own."

Puck wasn't able to give some sort of retort because Principal Figgins' voice was suddenly ringing throughout the room.

"Okay, children, settle down. To start off our Halloween assembly Mr Scheuster and the glee club have prepared a couple of songs for us. First up, is Noah Puckerman."

Puck winced. There was a very minute possibility that he might've gotten away with people not knowing that it was him singing the song – he was wearing a wig and fake moustache after all. But now that Figgins had announced his name to the whole school his life was seriously about to go to shit. This sucked.

Berry reached out and squeezed his forearm, nearly making him jump. "Good luck, Noah, you'll be fine."

"Whatever, Berry," he muttered. It was bizarre really, that he and Berry were acting like wearing this costume and singing this song was the end of his world…but it kinda was really.

He walked onto the stage, hating the way that his shoes clicked as he moved to the centre where the microphone was standing.

As the opening beats of the bar echoed throughout the hall the curtains slid open. The stage was completely dark until the final part of the intro when a spotlight was trained on him. _Fuck_ this was _so_ embarrassing.

Luckily, the light was pretty much blinding him and he couldn't see the (no doubt) horrified expressions on the faces of the rest of the school. So he started to sing, holding onto the microphone so hard he thought it might break.

_"I want to break free,  
I want to break free,  
I want to break free from your lies,  
You're so self satisfied I don't need you,  
I've want to break free,  
God knows, God knows I want to break free."_

Normally he didn't really mind Queen. New Directions had already done 'Somebody To Love' and they sounded quite awesome doing it. But Berry probably couldn't have picked a worse song of theirs for him to sing. The lyrics and outfit made him totally sound gay – like he wanted to break out of some queer closet when all he actually wanted to break free from was their stupid game.

_"I've fallen in love,  
I've fallen in love for the first time,  
And this time I know it's for real,  
I've fallen in love, yeah,  
God knows, God knows I've fallen in love."_

And this bit was also totally not true to his life right now. He'd wanted Berry for a couple of weeks now and he kinda liked and respected her but that was as far as it went. Falling in love was for pussies.

_"It's strange but it's true,  
I can't get over the way you love me like you do,  
But I have to be sure,  
When I walk out that door,  
Oh how I want to be free, baby,  
Oh how I want to break free,  
Oh how I want to break free." _

There was normally a guitar instrumental next but he'd cut that out of this version because he wanted this shit to be over as soon as possible. He hadn't moved from his position in the centre of the stage because the skirt he was wearing (yes, he was aware of how fucking messed up that sounded) was just long enough to cover the stockings and he felt like it was very important for the rest of the school to think he was just wearing normal pantyhose. Berry would no doubt complain that he was giving a shit performance but honestly, she could go fuck herself (and man would he like to watch her do that).

_"But life still goes on,  
I can't get used to, living without, living without,  
Living without you by my side,  
I don't want to live alone, hey,  
God knows, got to make it on my own,  
So baby can't you see,  
God knows, gods know, gods know,  
I've want to break free."_

The end was somewhat abrupt but, again, Puck didn't give a fuck. He'd done his stupid dare and that was all that mattered.

The hall was silent as the rest of the school took in his performance. And it wasn't like when the glee club had done their performance of 'Push It' and most of the school cheered after a few moments. There was nothing. Not even polite clapping from the teachers.

Puck couldn't really blame them. He wouldn't be clapping if someone else had sung this song while dressed like Freddie Mercury did in the video.

"Um, that was your Halloween trick," he muttered into the microphone. "Here's Rachel Berry with your treat."

The lights blacked out again and Puck took off his heels before jogging off the stage.

Berry, Mike and Matt had already moved onto the stage by the time he'd gotten into the wings. He wrenched the wig off his head and winced as he ripped the moustache off his upper lip. He wanted to change his clothes too but there was no fucking way he was missing Berry in this outfit. He shrugged the dressing gown over his body and turned towards the stage just as the electronic sound beat through the speakers and Berry's electrified voice echoed, "_Spinning around, spinning around."_

He could make out the three dark forms of Berry, Matt and Mike on the stage and he held his breath, waiting for lights to come on.

They came on an instant before Berry started singing and to be honest, she could've sang completely out of tune for all the attention that Puck was paying because Berry looked fucking hot.

No, seriously, the gold strappy heels made her legs look like they went on _forever_ and they were topped off with the tiniest pair of shiny gold hotpants he had ever seen. And Berry was right; he could totally see a decent amount of ass cheek before they got covered by the material. She looked totally ass-tastic.

Her top was of a paler gold colour and didn't exactly have much of a back which easily led him to the conclusion that Berry was wearing no bra. In fact, the material didn't even cover the sides that well and he could definitely see just a hint of the side of her boob.

The whole outfit just looked sexy as fuck on her. There were quite a few other slutty songs he could've gotten her to sing but ever since he saw Kylie Minogue strutting around in those tiny hot pants he couldn't get the image of Berry doing the same thing out of his head. He was convinced that he'd definitely made the right decision.

_"I'm spinning around,  
Move out of my way,  
I know you're feelin' me cos you like it like this,  
I'm breakin' it down,  
I'm not the same,  
I know you're feelin' me cos you like it like this._

Puck _really_ wanted to feel her – all over.

The song was upbeat and clubby and she was wearing a headset so that she could dance and sing at the same time. She was doing a pretty simple routine with Matt and Mike that had her sort of bopping along to the song. His eyes were totally glued to her bod. He couldn't believe how sexy she looked. It was like one of his dreams come true.

_"Clearin' this house out of joy that I borrowed,  
From back in the day,  
Threw away my old clothes,  
Got myself a better wardrobe,  
I got something to say._

I'm through with the past,  
Ain't no point in looking back,  
The future will be,  
And did I forget to mention that I found a new direction,  
And it leads back to me?"

She was walking along the front of the stage like she fucking owned it. She looked incredible there. He couldn't believe that she'd thought he'd laugh at her outfit; she was absolutely smoking, the crazy chick.

_"I'm spinning around,  
Move out of my way,  
I know you're feelin' me cos you like it like this,  
I'm breakin' it down,  
I'm not the same,  
I know you're feelin' me cos you like it like this._

Berry was back dancing with Matt and Mike now and Puck really wished that he'd thought to ask some people to be on stage with him too. But, come on, who would've dressed up in drag with him without the threat of physical violence?

_"Mistakes that I made givin' me the strength,  
To really believe,  
And no matter how I take it,  
There's no way I'm gonna fake it cos it's gotta be real."_

Okay, was he just seeing things or did she totally flash a sexy little grin his way when she was singing that last line? He was glad he was like, alone, in the dark where no one could see the reaction her little performance was having on him – this garter belt was feeling way too tight all of a sudden.

_"I've got nothin' left to hide,  
No reason left to fight,  
Cos the truth's given me a new freedom inside,  
Gettin' rid of my desire,  
Do you like what you see?"_

Oh, fuck yes did Puck like what he saw. He'd thought that she was going to be a total prude in this song and just dance a little. He didn't know whether it was her idea or Mike or Matt's but her dance moves were totally suggestive. She was killing him with this routine.

_"I'm spinning around,  
Move out of my way,  
I know you're feelin' me cos you like it like this,  
I'm breakin' it down,  
I'm not the same,  
I know you're feelin' me cos you like it like this._

Ooh-oh baby, baby, baby,  
You know you like it like this,  
Ooh-oh baby, baby, baby,  
You know you like it like this,  
Ooh-oh baby, baby, baby."

Er, fuck that, Puck was _not_ okay with the dancing routine anymore. She was being way too kinky in this – it was like 'Push it' all over again but sexier, and Mike and Matt were like _all_ over her. Seriously, it's like their hands couldn't be away from her skin for more than a second and they looked like they were having way too much fun in this routine. He wanted to punch them both. Hard.

_"I'm spinning around,  
Move out of my way,  
I know you're feelin' me cos you like it like this,  
I'm breakin' it down,  
I'm not the same,  
I know you're feelin' me cos you like it like this"_

She finished on a typical Berry high note and the hall promptly erupted. He twitched the curtain aside like he'd done earlier and he could see like, the entire school on their feet.

Great, so now she was even more fucking popular than ever and he was just some queer in a skirt.

Although he majorly wanted to see Berry up close in that damn sexy outfit he didn't really want to see her so happy after kicking his ass in yet another round of this game so he snuck out through the back exit to get changed.

* * *

Puck walked into the cafeteria for lunch and then immediately wished that he hadn't. The room had gone quiet, just like it did in cheesy movies and everyone was staring at him.

His policy of not backing down (running away) from something was sorely being tested here. He normally didn't mind being stared at (come on, had you _seen_ his studly ass?) but when everyone was thinking about you dressed as a chick it was a pretty uncomfortable feeling.

"Hey, Puck!" a voice called and he glanced over to see Brittany waving at him. "Come sit with us!"

The other occupants of the table were who Puck liked to think of as the cool members of glee: Santana, Quinn, Finn, Mike and Matt. Puck walked towards them, knowing that this was probably the only place that he'd feel semi-comfortable having his lunch.

People started to talk at the other tables but Puck knew they were talking about him, the fuckers.

"S'up guys," he said, as he slumped into a seat between Finn and Matt.

"You really think you can come over and say 'S'up' like that after what happened this morning?" asked Santana, raising an eyebrow.

"What? You guys knew I was singing for assembly."

"Yes, but not like…_that_," Quinn said.

"What was wrong with it?" Puck asked, trying to play the ignorant card because it was probably the only defence he had right now unless he wanted to tell them the truth.

"Dude, you were wearing a little skirt and you had fake…" Finn gestured to his chest and Puck rolled his eyes.

"Man the fuck up, Hudson. They're called boobs, tits, jugs, jigglies, bouncers, conjoined humpbacks or not-so-grassy knolls."

Quinn scrunched up her face in distaste. "And I'm done with this milkshake," she said, placing her special Cheerios mixture far away from her.

"Milkshakers – another good name, thanks Quinn." Puck grinned at the uncomfortable look on her face.

"Stop avoiding the topic," Santana snapped. "You looked like a complete freak this morning. What the hell's happened to you to make you want to dress like that?"

"_Nothing_," Puck insisted.

"You have really nice legs," Brittany randomly inputted into the conversation.

"You know it, babe." He replied.

"But they're not as good as Rachel's," Brittany continued and Puck certainly agreed with her there. It was then that Puck remembered how handsy Matt and Mike had been over Berry's body and he shot them a glare.

He was about to rip into them about having too much fun with Berry when the room quieted again. Puck looked round to see that Berry had entered the cafeteria and was walking towards their table with a couple of Tupperware boxes. She was back in her Cheerios uniform but he could still totally picture those hot pants over her tight little body.

She wasn't aware that the rest of the school were staring at her – or if she was then she didn't let on. She was looking so fucking cheerful that it made him scowl.

"Hello everyone," she chirped before turning to Matt and Mike. "I made you some 'Thank you' cookies for helping me with my song this morning."

"Awesome! Thanks, Rachel," Mike said accepting his box. "But you didn't really need to do this."

"Yeah, it was really fun doing the dance with you." Matt agreed.

Rachel beamed. "It _was_ enjoyable, wasn't it? I honestly didn't expect to receive such an enthusiastic response from the rest of the student population."

"Well, you looked like, really good up there," Finn said, but looked away from Berry when Quinn glared at him.

"Matt and Mike are excellent choreographers." Berry insisted. "I put my trust in them and given the club-like genre of the piece, it is down to their work that the song was such a success."

Puck was about to point out that, for him, it was the _hot pants_ that made the song but Matt spoke before he could.

"That's crap, Rachel. You totally owned that song and you know it."

Berry was smiling so wide from all the compliments that Puck thought her face was going to rip in two.

"What made you pick that track?" Finn asked pulling out a chair for Berry to sit on. Quinn's scowl deepened. "I've never heard it before."

"I've always been a fan of Kylie Minogue and my body is quite similar to hers in that we're both quite petite." Berry explained. "I wanted to pick a song that wasn't too well-known so that I could make it my own. And I think that the lyrics of the song had an element about where I am in my life at the moment."

"You have really nice legs." Brittany said, just like she had to Puck a couple of minutes ago.

"Thank you," Berry murmured, like she didn't quite know what to do with _that_ compliment.

"Brittany and I are going to the mall after school today. You should come," Santana invited and Puck raised an eyebrow. He thought Santana hated being anywhere near Berry.

The new Cheerio looked very pleased with the offer. "Oh, I do believe that my schedule is free this afternoon, so, I'd love to come with you."

This whole Berry-lovefest was actually making Puck feel nauseous. Had they all forgotten how annoying Berry could be? It was like, she sang one song wearing slutty clothes and she was suddenly the most popular girl in school. And this was all his fucking fault.

The only other person who didn't seem happy with this whole situation was Quinn, who was giving Berry a very frosty look.

Puck decided that actually, he didn't want to listen to how fucking amazing all his friends thought Berry was.

He stood and walked away from the table. He was only semi-surprised that no one wanted to know where he was going. Well, fuck 'em. If they were more interested in Berry right now then he hoped that she bored them to death with talk about Broadway and Grammys.

He was feeling really pissed off (_again_) with this whole dare thing and thought that a quick session at the gym would probably make him feel better. He changed his clothes and headed straight for one of the punch bags. He let loose a few hits into the heavy bag, not bothering with any gloves or hand wraps.

It felt good to take his anger out on something. Of course, he could've just picked one of the many dweebs in schools to be his punching bag but no doubt Berry would've heard about it and made his life even more messed up than it already was.

He wasn't angry at her, not really, he was angrier at himself for sucking at this game. He wanted to win but his dares didn't even seem to be challenging her anymore. He needed to think more carefully about Berry and what she considered to be important and then dare her to do something that would completely ruin her. She wouldn't do it, he'd win, and then everything could go back to normal.

"Dude, I don't think I've ever seen anything so fucking hot in my life!"

The voice interrupted Puck's thoughts. He knew that voice; it was Josh Hutchinson. Puck considered Hutchinson as like his deputy, badass wise. He always helped Puck with the dumpster tosses and it had been his idea to paintball Finn after finding out that he was cutting out on football because of glee club.

Puck hadn't really spoken to Josh for a few weeks since, you know, he'd joined glee too. A few insults had been shared and a couple of punches thrown and things had been kinda tense since.

"I can't believe that she was hiding that ass under those skirts this whole fucking time." Josh continued and with a flash of anger, Puck knew exactly who he was talking about. "If I'd known that Rachel Berry was that fucking hot then I'd've done something about it months ago."

Puck stared at the punching bag intently. Fuck, he hadn't realised that getting Berry to wear that outfit would mean the rest of the school would know how sexy she was! He didn't think he'd be able to stand seeing other guys to come onto her after all the dreams he'd had. Berry was off-limits in his mind (right now he wasn't sure why, but he knew there _was_ a reason) and he'd assumed that everyone else felt that way too. But with that Kylie song it was like he'd forced her to show her hotness to the rest of the school. What the fuck had he done?

"So you're going to do something about it now?" another voice that Puck didn't recognise asked.

"Did you not _see_ her ass cheeks peeking out from those pants?" Josh replied. "That girl is totally ripe for the plucking and I'm going to make sure that I'm going to be the first there to pick her."

"I don't know, man. I heard she's a bit crazy –"

"Yeah, but imagine what sort of a _freak_ she's going to be in bed."

The voices were getting closer and Puck realised how weird it would look if he was just glaring at the punch bag so he started hitting it again, imagining it was Josh Hutchinson's face.

"Well, if it isn't McKinley's resident drag queen." Josh called and Puck turned towards him, hands still clenched in fists.

"Fuck you, Hutchinson," he spat.

"God, Puckerman, please do _not_ entertain that thought." Hutchinson replied, looking disgusted. "I don't want to know what goes through that queer little head of yours."

"Hutch, we've got to go, Coach wants to see us." The other guy, some second string football player, said.

Josh shrugged. "You go on, I'll catch you up."

"So, _Hutch_, huh?" Puck said as the other guy walked off towards Tanaka's office. "Using the first syllable of your surname; very original. But isn't a hutch what they keep rabbits in?"

"Impressive performance this morning." Josh said, ignoring Puck's barb. "Was it a relief to break free of the homo closet?"

"I'm not a queer, you fuckwit and you know what, I don't have to explain myself to the likes of you."

"What? The _real_ men?"

"You fucking wish, Hutchinson. The day you're a 'real man' is the day I -"

"Wear a skirt to school? Face it, Puckerman; you're finished. I can't believe you and Hudson thought you could double up at homo-explosion and still manage to run this school."

"Watch it, Hutchinson. I _am_ still top in this school and I don't have a problem with reintroducing your face to my fists to prove it."

Josh chuckled and Puck felt his skin flush hot with anger. "You just keep deluding yourself Puckerman. But the way things have been going lately – even Rachel Berry has more say in this school than you do."

"You stay the fuck away from her," Puck warned, his voice low.

Josh raised an eyebrow. "Got a little soft spot for the girl we used to slushie, have you?"

"Fuck no," he lied, as his guts clenched in anger.

"Don't worry, Puckerman, I'll take good care of her." Josh said in a fake sympathetic voice.

Puck knew the douche was just winding him up. There was no way that Berry would go for this dick…was there?

"I'll take such good care of her you'll be able to hear her screaming my name over and over again from miles away."

Puck lunged forwards bringing his fist back to smack into Josh's smug face but Josh ducked out of the way, tackling Puck to the ground. Puck was able to land a few blows to his body (and take a couple in return) before he felt strong hands trying to drag him and Hutchinson apart.

"Break it up, you two," a voice called and Puck realised it was Coach Tanaka. Puck aimed one last kick in Josh's direction before allowing himself to be pulled away.

"Puckerman just lunged at me for no reason, Coach," Josh panted, wiping a small amount of blood from his lip.

"I don't care," Tanaka growled, keeping a handful of each of their clothing. "Normally, I'd just suspend you both from the squad for a couple of weeks but I need you on the team tonight. So you're just going to have to shake hands and get on with your stupid lives, get it?"

Puck rolled his eyes. A hand shake, seriously?

"_Get it?_" Tanaka repeated, more forcefully.

"Fine, whatever," Puck mumbled as Josh muttered some sort of agreement too.

"Well get on with it then, I haven't got all day." Tanaka ordered.

Puck joined his hand to Josh's, squeezing it as hard as he fucking could, as Josh did the same to him.

"Good, it's over, now get lost," Tanaka said, walking back to his office. But Puck knew this wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

* * *

A/N Hope you enjoyed it! I've been thinking about this chapter for _weeks_ and it's nice to get it done out of the way. This chapter kind of fulfils requests from **notso little j **and **xSpencer-Rose **for Puck to wear a dress (did a skirt and stockings count?) and **JClayton** who wanted Rachel to wear something slutty.

So, yeah, Spinning Around wasn't released in America. I didn't know about that til after I'd cemented it in my head that that was what Rachel was going to sing. I seriously considered changing it (to possibly Christina Aguilera's Dirty) but I felt that this song suited her more. And SO many suggested Aerosmith's 'Dude, Looks Like a Lady' for Puck but Steven Tyler doesn't actually wear women's clothes in the video so it had to be Queen and 'I Want to Break Free'. Points go to **Greentop** for correctly guessing that it would be a Freddie Mercury song. J

It shouldn't be anywhere near as long a wait for the next chapter, but who knows, really.

Please let me know what you thought of the chapter.

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXxXx

PS The Josh Hutchinson guy is actually based on an actor I spotted in the Pilot for Glee. He normally stands next to Puck when the football players are on but he's only in the Pilot. Just thought I'd share that with you!


	9. Rise and Fall

Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

A/N Is this some Friday 13th trickery before you? No, it is an actual update. I know, shocking. I am very sorry for the long wait. I don't really have an excuse except that I wasn't really in the mood for writing. I find it very frustrating when that happens (and I'm sure you do too).

This is a somewhat international chapter as parts of this has been written whilst on the Eurostar to Brussels (which occurred about a month ago) and on the journey that took me to where I am now, in the south of France. Yes, I'm posting whilst on holiday, which is why I haven't responded to those of you who reviewed. Sorry! But many thanks and lots of love to you all!

Chapter Nine: Rise and Fall

* * *

Rachel ran her fingers gently over the white fabric and took a deep breath. So, this was a high school party. Her first.

And it wasn't just _any_ party; it was a Halloween party.

Rachel was still in a state of shock over the events of the day. She'd been dreadfully nervous before performing 'Spinning Around', more so than she'd ever been for a performance before. She'd felt dreadfully exposed in that outfit and if she hadn't had the support of Mike and Matt then she doubted she'd have gone through with the dare. Well, actually she probably would have because she refused to even contemplate the idea of losing to Noah Puckerman, but the performance wouldn't have been such a success if she'd been on the stage on her own.

And to sing in that assembly in front of her peers had felt _incredible_. To hear them cheer and whistle for her when normally they'd jeer and insult her had given Rachel a huge sense of satisfaction.

Ever since she'd stepped off of that stage the students (and even some of the staff) had started treating her completely differently. She wasn't Rachel Berry the gleek loser anymore; she was Rachel Berry the cheerleader and sexy performer (she'd overheard someone else describe her as sexy so she figured she could use that adjective in reference to herself too). And she did feel sexy after that.

If you asked her, she'd tell you that if a man was to stare at a woman's body then it was completely degrading and she'd quote a feminist at you, but secretly...she liked that the guys in school kept staring whenever she'd walked past today. She'd honestly never felt so popular and happy in her time at McKinley.

And then after school, Brittany and Santana had taken her to the mall. They didn't have an awful long time there because they had to get back in time for the football game that evening. Rachel had been a little apprehensive about the shopping trip given her previous experiences with the two Cheerios but they were very cordial towards her, nice even.

It was when they were testing out different brands of eye shadow together that Brittany suggested that she come to the party she was throwing that night.

Rachel was thrilled. Her first high school party! She had waited a long time for this invitation.

Upon finding out that Rachel didn't have a suitable Halloween costume to wear ("My Dads and I dress as The Three Musketeers whenever we attend a costume party.") Brittany and Santana forced her into the costume shop.

She tried a few outfits on but the other two girls didn't seem impressed with them. Santana forced another costume into her arms and when she emerged wearing it they finally seemed happy.

Rachel would never have picked the outfit out for herself – it was quite revealing, but after her performance this morning she didn't think that was such a big deal anymore.

She was dressed as an angel. The bodice was made from white silk and it had laces down the front and off the shoulder sleeves. The skirt flared out slightly and was more like taffeta with a white fluffy trim on the end and it came down to just above her mid thigh. The outfit was completed with a pair of fluffy wings and a halo attached to a hair band.

Brittany and Santana told her that she looked 'awesome' in the outfit but once Rachel saw the price tag she wasn't too convinced to buy it.

"Don't you have any money?" Brittany had asked.

"Well, yes, my Dads gave me a credit card when I turned thirteen but they told me I was only allowed to use it in the case of emergencies." She'd explained.

"If this isn't an emergency then I don't know what is," Santana had pointed out.

So, yes, she'd bought the outfit...and a pair of white heels, but really, if she wanted to keep her popularity up then money was no doubt going to have to be spent.

Following the trip to the mall, Rachel, Brittany and Santana travelled back to McKinley for the football team's match.

Rachel had never been to a game before – she thought sport was quite pointless actually (particularly high school sport), but she couldn't deny that she was excited as the countdown to the game got closer. Maybe it was because she was a Cheerio now; she felt that part of her was entitled to be there. It was quite stupid honestly, because she hadn't really wanted to be a cheerleader but now that she _was_ one she wondered why she had been so against the idea. People were looking at her differently, speaking to her as though she was someone worth being seen with and she had been invited to her first party! Things were definitely on the up for her.

The Cheerios performed a pre-match routine but Rachel couldn't take part in that because she hadn't been taught the choreography yet. In fact, she hadn't really been taught anything; in Cheerios practice Coach Sylvester kept sending her on bizarre errands that would take her at least half an hour to complete and she'd come back to find practice over. Rachel didn't mind too much because she didn't particularly want to injure herself performing some sort of acrobatic feat and thus endanger her chances of appearing at Sectionals with New Directions.

Brittany handed her a pair of pom-poms just before the two teams were about to emerge. "Welcome to the Cheerios, Rachel," she said and Rachel beamed.

She felt a little self-conscious at first, waving the rustling bundles around and encouraging the crowd to cheer, but she soon got caught up in the atmosphere.

She waved her pom-poms enthusiastically when McKinley's team came onto the pitch, especially when she caught sight of Finn, Matt, Mike, Kurt and Noah. She saw Finn wave in her direction and she nearly waved back before she realised that he was actually waving at _Quinn_. Rachel felt her cheeks flush and avoided the blonde girl's cold look.

The game passed in a blur of cheers, groans, yells and the odd waving of a pom-pom. Rachel found it strangely exhilarating, even though she only knew the basics of the game.

McKinley lost but she gathered that this result was somewhat expected because no one seemed too upset.

"Come on," Brittany said, barely five minutes after the game had finished, "let's go get ready."

And now, the party had been in full swing for around half an hour but Rachel had only just been declared 'ready' by Brittany and was about to be released from the blonde's bedroom. Brittany had spent over an hour preparing Rachel's hair and make-up (Rachel had pointed out that Brittany was somewhat neglecting her duties as the host of the party but Brittany had told her that Santana was taking care of those things) and Rachel had been stunned by the reflection in the mirror in Brittany's room.

Rachel knew that she wasn't the ugliest girl in the school but she knew she wasn't as beautiful as Quinn either. At school Rachel wore minimal, natural looking make-up because she thought it most fitting towards the environment that she was in. Yet, while Brittany had made her make-up a lot more obvious, Rachel was relieved to see that she didn't look like some sort of tramp.

"You're the sexiest angel I've ever seen," Brittany stated and Rachel blushed. "Let's go show everyone!"

Brittany (dressed as a nurse) pulled her out the room and towards the stairs. Rachel clutched the banister nervously, she wasn't very secure in high heels (she'd fallen over a number of times in rehearsals for Spinning Around) and she didn't want to trip and tumble down the stairs.

Brittany hurried down the stairs like a pro but Rachel carefully took each step at a time. There was an awful lot of noise emanating from downstairs and Rachel occasionally glanced up from her feet to survey the situation.

The foyer that the stairs led into was already populated with a number of people that she knew from school yet had never spoken to, but Finn, Quinn and Mike were there too. Rachel could sense people's heads turning in her direction and she tried extra hard not to fall over and embarrass herself.

Once her feet were successfully on the hardwood of the foyer Rachel allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief. She walked over to where Brittany was talking to the members of glee club that she had spotted earlier.

"Wow, Rachel, you look amazing," Mike complimented her as she joined the group.

"Thank you," she answered, "I like your doctor's outfit."

Mike proudly pulled on the lapels of his white coat.

"He's the Turk to my Carla," Brittany told her and Rachel frowned because their ethnicities were clearly wrong but she held her tongue because she got the feeling that they wouldn't appreciate her pointing that out and she didn't want to appear racist in any way.

"How charming," Rachel said instead and turned her gaze to Finn and Quinn. They were wearing outfits that reminded Rachel of ones that she'd seen at the Renaissance fair when she'd attended with her Dads last year (and every year before that). Quinn was wearing a beautiful, long, purple gown and Rachel had to try very hard not to laugh at Finn in his outfit because he looked extremely uncomfortable wearing his very green costume that seemed to consist of a long tunic and extremely tight pants.

"You look beautiful, Quinn," Rachel told her, honestly.

"Thanks," Quinn replied tightly. Rachel hoped that Quinn was going to compliment her outfit too but when a couple of seconds went by without another word being spoken, Rachel figured that hope was in vain.

"And you look very green, Finn." Rachel told the quarterback with a smile on her face and Finn chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm Robin Hood, see?" He brandished a large bow at her and pretended to shoot an arrow into the crowd.

"Yes, it's lovely, Finn." Rachel commented. "And I take it that Quinn is your Maid Marion?"

"Sure is," Finn replied, wrapping an arm round Quinn's shoulder and kissing the top of her head. Rachel felt a pain in her chest at the sight as Quinn smiled smugly at her.

Rachel really didn't understand Finn sometimes. She was sure, completely sure, that Finn harboured some feelings for her and she didn't know why he stayed with Quinn if that was the case. It seemed like sometimes he was willing to give into those feelings and other times it was like he was trying to prove to her that he wasn't interested by flaunting his relationship with Quinn. No matter which way he decided to play it, Rachel always seemed to get hurt and she was getting sick of it.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I think I might get a beverage." Rachel said, trying not to show the pain she felt inside.

She walked off in the direction that she hoped was towards the kitchen and when she heard footsteps behind her she turned to see Brittany following her.

"Are you okay, Rachel?" she asked and Rachel shrugged.

"I'm fine." She replied stiffly.

"The kitchen's this way," Brittany said, tugging her to the right. They passed through the lounge and Rachel could see Santana and Matt talking to other members of the football team. Matt was wearing a strange sort of white jumpsuit with writing on it and Santana was looking like her normal glamorous self but with a neon pink jacket and form fitting blank pants.

"Who are Matt and Santana dressed as?" Rachel asked Brittany.

"Um, apparently Matt's like some British guy who drives a fast car and Santana's the main Pussycat Doll. They're going out." Brittany explained

"Matt and Santana? Or the people they're pretending to be?"

"Um, both, I think." Brittany replied. "I'm not sure about Matt and Santana but San did agree to dress up as the Pussycat Doll so Matt could be the racer – he's gotten all obsessive over cars."

"So, you guys have all come as couples?" Rachel asked, her heart sinking a little bit further.

"Oh, I suppose so." Brittany said as though she'd only just realised this. "Mike and I are only friends but it's more fun to dress up with a partner, isn't it?" Rachel nodded glumly and Brittany seemed to sense her mood and put an arm around her shoulder as they walked into the kitchen. "Don't worry, Rachel, we'll find someone for you."

Rachel almost frowned at the words. Normally she would strongly protest to the idea of another person _finding_ someone for her, (not that she'd ever really found anyone for herself) but seeing Finn with Quinn had put her in a depressed state of mind and she wanted to put the quarterback out of her head. She knew it was quite ridiculous to harbour feelings for a man that was in a relationship but Rachel was sure that she could make Finn infinitely happier than Quinn ever could. However, as long as Finn was determined to ignore his heart then there wasn't a lot that Rachel could do about the situation without looking like a bitch for trying to steal someone's boyfriend. And really, shouldn't she want to be with someone who wanted to be with her and _only_ her? So maybe letting Brittany steer her in the direction of an available man wouldn't be so bad after all.

The kitchen was quite crowded with people pouring themselves drinks and socialising with their friends. Lots of people greeted Brittany, which was polite seeing as it was her party, and Rachel found herself being introduced to all of them. Since her induction into the Cheerios and performance that morning, it seemed that people actually wanted to _know_ her and Rachel couldn't be more pleased. She could sense a lot of eyes on her (or, more likely, her outfit) and she decided that she wasn't going to give Finn Hudson another thought for the rest of the night – surely there were plenty of guys at this party that would be a more than acceptable replacement for him.

She and Brittany had just finished talking to a couple of Cheerios when a crash came from another room. "I'd better go see what that was," Brittany said and hurried out of the room before Rachel could say anything in response. She crossed her arms and glanced around the room nervously; suddenly aware that she was standing in a room full of people that she didn't really know.

She decided to go back into the other room to check that everything was okay or maybe she'd run into Matt, Santana or Mike (she didn't really want to talk to Finn or Quinn). She turned abruptly but she must have turned too abruptly because there seemed to be less space around her than she was expecting. Consequently she tripped over her feet slightly and stumbled into someone standing next to her, causing him to spill some of his drink onto the floor.

"Oh my goodness," Rachel gasped. She could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks and hoped that they didn't look too red. "I'm _so_ sorry." She reached out for one of the napkins that was lying on a nearby table and carefully crouched down to mop it up. "Here, let me clear this up for you. I'm not normally very clumsy; I'm just not used to the gradient that these shoes are sporting."

She was so humiliated by what had happened that she was hoping that she could save a little face by not looking directly at whoever she'd stumbled into. It was an irrational thought but rational thinking was quite beyond her at that moment. Thus she was quite surprised when his hand reached down to gently grasp her arm to pull her up again. "Hey, don't worry about it, it was nothing." He said and Rachel finally reasoned that she should probably look at him.

She was pleasantly surprised to find that he didn't look at all angry about her clumsiness, in fact, he seemed amused. That should have made her feel better but this guy was actually really handsome with soft brown eyes and dark hair that looked like it would be really silky to touch. She mentally kicked herself for tripping over her feet in front of one of the best looking boys in the whole school. She thought she knew him from somewhere but she wasn't entirely sure where from. McKinley did have quite a large student population after all.

"I'm sorry," she said again for lack of anything else to say.

He chuckled and she thought he looked even more attractive when he smiled. "Yeah, you already said but like _I_ said, it's no big deal."

"Are you sure?" she insisted. "I didn't get any on your outfit did I?" Her eyes swept up and down his costume and it was only then that she realised that his red shirt and little horns signified that he was dressed as a devil.

She gasped slightly and quite stupidly said, "You're a devil and I'm an angel."

He laughed again. "We make quite a pair," he said, grinning mischievously and Rachel felt her heart jump like it normally only did for Finn.

He was right though; they did make a pair, like Robin Hood and Maid Marion, Turk and Carla, Nicole Scherzinger and the British driver she was dating. An angel and a devil. Maybe it was a sign? Perhaps fate had meant for her to stumble into this guy.

"Would you like me to get you another drink?" Rachel asked politely, trying to hide the enthusiasm she was feeling towards him.

"No, that's all right. I'm Josh, by the way, Josh Hutchinson." He held out a hand and Rachel joined hers to his.

"I'm Rachel Berry," she told him and they shook hands.

"Yeah, I know," he said as they let go (although Rachel could have sworn that he stroked the outside of her thumb as they did so.) "That was a great show from you this morning."

Rachel beamed at him, thrilled that he thought she was a good performer. "Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"How could I not? You were incredible," he said earnestly and Rachel felt her cheeks flush again but this time with pleasure.

"I don't know about 'incredible' but it was certainly one of my better performances." She admitted so that she appeared modest.

"Well, I think you're insanely talented – you're going to be famous one day for sure."

"Do you really think so?" She asked. She was pretty sure that Josh would have next to no knowledge about how to break into show business or what it took to be a Grammy winner but he seemed so serious, so sincere.

"Of course. And it's not as though I'm trying to win over a beautiful angel, is it?" He grinned and Rachel giggled while her stomach did a weird fluttery thing. He thought she was beautiful?

"That's very kind of you to say so." She said quietly, feeling shy all of a sudden.

He shrugged. "It's true."

After a few seconds of silence, Rachel realised that she was staring at him and quickly thought of something to say. "Do I know you for some reason? You seem familiar."

Josh sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, looking guilty. "Um, yeah, I was kinda hoping that you'd forgotten…" He trailed off and Rachel frowned confused.

"What?" she asked.

"I, er, used to help Puck with his, um, slushie attacks." He said to her feet.

The fluttering in her stomach stopped and sunk like a stone instead. "Oh," she said quietly. She remembered now. She generally tried to block those incidents from her memory but she could quite clearly recall seeing Josh's laughing face after Noah threw a raspberry flavoured slushie in her face.

"Did you…ever throw one at me?" she asked, fearing the answer he would give.

"Twice," Josh admitted and Rachel wrapped her arms around herself, feeling cold. "But I didn't want to."

"Of course you didn't," she said dryly.

"No, you don't understand what it's like. Once you're in with a group of jocks like that, there are things you're expected to do. Unless you want to get pounded on by half of the football team, you don't really have a choice. It's so screwed up and Rachel I'm so sorry that you had to suffer because of me."

"Was it just me that suffered? Or did you toss Kurt into dumpsters and torment Artie too?" Rachel asked hotly. Josh sighed and Rachel knew the answer. She turned to leave but he grabbed her arm. "Let me go, Josh."

"No, look, I don't do that stuff anymore! I swear, Rachel, things are different now."

"Why? What's changed?" she demanded. People were starting to look in their direction but she didn't care.

"Glee club." He said simply and Rachel blinked in shock.

"Glee?" she asked incredulously. "How?"

"With Finn, Puck, Mike and Matt joining glee club, the whole jerk system has kind of fallen apart. Puck isn't on my back all the time trying to force me to make someone miserable. Apparently they all think you guys are kinda cool now. We're free to be whoever we want to be. All because of glee club."

"Really?" Rachel asked tentatively. She really wanted to believe him.

"Well, yeah. When was the last time you got slushied? And Hummel's on the football team now. That never could've happened without glee."

She didn't feel cold any more. She was feeling wonderfully at peace with the world. She'd known all along that glee club could make a positive impact at McKinley and here was the proof.

"Glee club really makes a difference, then?" she asked.

"Definitely," Josh insisted. "I'd have joined already but I can't sing to save my life." Rachel smiled at him. "And, you know, I would've said sorry sooner, but I didn't really know how to."

"Well, it took a lot of courage for you to admit your previous offences to me; you could have lied but I appreciate that you were honest with me."

"And I swear, first thing on Monday morning I'm going to apologise to everyone I've bullied." He told her. "So, am I forgiven?"

"Get me a beverage and all will be pardoned" She said, grinning and Josh sighed in relief.

"Cool," he replied. "You wanna beer?"

Rachel shook her head. "Alcohol is much too corruptive to the vocal chords. I want mine to be in top shape for Sectionals in a few weeks. A glass of water would be just fine."

"Okay, I'll be back in a couple of minutes," Josh said and disappeared into the crowd surrounding the alcohol.

She bit her lip. It had been a highly unusual conversation but she thought that perhaps she had a new friend now. Given their previous history, Josh probably wouldn't be her first choice as a new friend but it seemed that he was truly remorseful for his actions and Rachel was a firm believer in second chances.

And who knew? Given the way that he was complimenting her earlier, perhaps this could turn into more than just a friendship.

* * *

Puck was having a shit weekend. It was only early on Saturday evening but he knew he could already determine that the whole weekend was destined to be utter fucking shit.

It had started with the game on Friday night (actually, it probably started with that dare on Friday morning and his fight with Josh but Puck always believed that the weekend started when school let out on Friday afternoon). He knew most of the team were looking at him weird in the locker room, even if he couldn't catch them at it, so he just glowered at them all and stuck some headphones on so he could listen to some tunes to get himself pumped up for the game.

As they lined themselves up to go onto the pitch, Puck tilted his neck from side to side and rolled his shoulders to get his muscles loosened up. As the team started to move forwards Puck heard someone whisper, "Fucking queer," in his ear and then he stumbled as that person pushed past him. Puck didn't have to see the number 88 emblazoned on the football jersey to know that it was Josh Hutchinson. Puck clenched his fists and tried to push his anger away – it wouldn't be a very good idea to punch his teammate in the face right under Tanaka's nose…again. Instead he just jogged onto the pitch with the rest of the team and the crowd cheered them on.

Somehow, he could distinguish _her_ voice above everyone else's which was pretty fucking weird seeing as there were a few hundred people in the stands right now. He'd forgotten that, seeing as she was a cheerleader, she would be at the game too. She was grinning, cheering, laughing and shaking her pom-poms around with Brittany and he was shocked that she looked so happy doing something that he'd thought she'd hate. It was nice, though, to see her looking cheerful because she hadn't looked particularly happy recently (unless it was at his expense, which didn't count) and she looked ridiculously cute (yes, cute) trying to hide her laughter behind one of her pom-poms at Brittany's excessive cheering and waving. He could almost forget that he was kinda mad at her for being an evil genius and giving him a dare that had almost certainly destroyed his reputation when her eyes were shining like that. And then she did that sexy kick that cheerleaders do and Puck could swear that her leg touched her ear, she was_ that _flexible. His mind reeled at the possibilities that her flexibility offered and he was also thankful that his mind had turned to thoughts of a more heterosexual nature; _shiny eyes?_

In the game itself, he didn't have his best performance. Even though he demanded of himself that he stay focused on the game, his eyes or his mind would wander towards the petite brunette cheerleader on the sides. It was fucking pathetic. The more he lost his concentration, the angrier he got and worse his game became – he dropped the pass more than once and when he tried to ward off a defender by grabbing his neck he knew before he was told, that coach was going to sub him to the bench.

He could see Josh and one of his lackeys laughing at him from the corner of his eye and he resisted the urge to throw down his helmet and flip over the bench in anger because he didn't want to look like a toddler having a tantrum. So he just slumped onto a seat and waited for this shit-ass match to be over.

McKinley lost, big shock. But this was such a common occurrence that nobody really cared _that_ much. Puck certainly didn't, he just wanted to get to the after party and drink himself stupid so that he could forget about this shit-fest of a day.

He frowned as he started to make his way back to the locker room because he didn't actually know where the party was due to be held. He searched around for somebody he knew and saw Santana walking not too far away.

"Hey, San!" he called. She turned in his direction and frowned.

"What d'you want Puckerman?" she asked, hands on her hips, as he jogged over to her.

"Where's the party at tonight?"

"There is no party," she replied, shrugging.

"No party? On the Friday before Halloween?" he asked sceptically.

"Perhaps I should have been clearer." She said, as though talking to a small child. "There's no party, _for you_."

Puck stared at her. "What do you mean?"

"You're not invited."

So, that was that then. The first time Puck had been officially not wanted at a party, ever.

A different type of Puck (he couldn't exactly say the _old _Puck because he didn't really feel like he was a _new _Puck) would've yelled and gotten angry and threatened to crash the place because he was _Noah fucking Puckerman _and they couldn't not invite him to a party, but he didn't want Santana to think that he actually cared about his decline in popularity. But he did care… a lot. There was nothing more important in High School than being popular. With people at your back, there was a lot of shit you could manage to avoid. Rachel Berry was a prime example of this; just a couple of weeks ago you would've been perfectly capable of publicly tormenting the little gleek in any way but now that Puck had somehow turned her into one of the most popular girls in school, nobody would be laying a finger on her.

And, you know, it was a nice feeling to know that people actually wanted to be in your company. Unlike now.

So he simply said, "Fuck you," to Santana and walked into the locker room to grab his stuff and go. He jumped in his truck and started driving around town, with no destination in mind. And you know what, he didn't want to go to the Halloween party anyway cos he didn't have a costume planned and he thought dressing up was kinda lame anyway. At least that's what he told himself when he pulled into his drive before midnight on a Friday night.

Saturday morning hadn't actually been that bad- he just stayed in bed and played on his Xbox, eating crappy junk food. This was what he normally did on Saturdays but this time he didn't have a hangover, which was nice.

However, that all changed when he went downstairs to make himself some lunch because his mom told him, as she rushed around the house, that she'd been called in to work and he'd have to take Sarah and a couple of her little friends trick-or-treating.

He grumbled and moaned about it but then his mom laid into him about being selfish and that it was time he grew up and started thinking of others for once. Blah, blah, blah.

So, here he was on Halloween, shepherding three little kids around the neighbourhood as they got all hyped out on nasty candy. They'd only been at it for fifteen minutes and Puck was seriously considering jumping in front of the next car that drove down the road.

He stood aside as the girls ran up to the porch of the next house and rang the doorbell, calling out, "Trick or treat!" in giggly, sugar crazed voices.

"Carlos, I swear to God, if you complain about the lack of candy one more time I'll leave you here for some paedophile to pick up."

Puck groaned as he recognized Santana's voice. He didn't really want to see his bitchy ex right now but he didn't exactly have anywhere to hide.

"Hey, look! It's Puck." Cried Santana's little brother, Carlos, and Puck reluctantly turned towards the siblings.

"S'up Carlos?" he greeted the boy (dressed as a vampire for the night) before turning cold eyes on Santana. "Lopez."

"Oh, please," Santana scoffed, "you're not still annoyed about last night are you? It was going to happen and you knew it."

"I'm not mad," Puck replied. "What's there to be mad about?"

"Exactly." Santana gave him a cold smile as Carlos looked between Puck and his sister with wide eyes. "It's a shame you couldn't come." She said, as though he'd had any say in the matter. "It was a good night – your little singing partner was quite the talking point."

Puck raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Berry was there?"

"Yes, although she wouldn't touch a drop of alcohol in case it damaged her vocal chords."

Puck noticed that she said that with no annoyance or dislike in her voice and he narrowed his eyes at her. "I thought you hated her."

Santana shrugged her shoulders. "For some reason the rest of the school have decided that she's worth knowing. I believe the term; 'if you can't beat them, join them' applies here. She's on a bit of a popular curve right now and I'm willing to latch onto that for the moment. But when she starts to fall back down to earth, and I've no doubt that she _will_, I'll gladly push her on her way."

"Huh, you're a real class act, you know that, right?" he said scornfully.

She looked at him as if he was insane. "Of course I know it. High School's just a game, Puck. I think you've just forgotten what the rules are."

"Oh, hello Satanana," said Sarah, as she and her friends re-joined Puck having successfully negotiated getting more candy.

"It's _Santana_, brat," The cheerleader spat at his little sister. Sarah glared at her and Puck decided that it was best that they moved on before there was some sort of fight because it was a totally unmatched affair – Santana wouldn't know what had hit her cos Sarah fought dirty (taught by Puck, of course).

"Later, Lopez," he said, steering the girls around the siblings.

"Bye Satanana!" called Sarah and her friends, giggling.

He ruffled his sister's hair affectionately; he liked that she was a bit of a badass.

The next twenty minutes or so were mostly uneventful as the kids went from door to door and built up their candy supply. The girls had just somehow managed to convince him to carry their bags for them when Sarah let out a squeal and pointed further down the street.

"It's Rachel!" she cried and hurried off to see her.

Puck sincerely hoped that his sister knew some other Rachel to the one that he had automatically thought of, but when he turned to see where Sarah had run off to he was disappointed to see that it was, in fact, Berry, that she had been squealing about.

He knew that there was no way that he could avoid her so he started dragging his heels in her general direction, making sure that Sarah's friends were coming too. He looked back at Berry again and nearly dropped the bags of candy he was holding because she wasn't alone. She was holding hands with Josh Hutchinson.

He halted, utterly shocked. When the _fuck _had that happened? No, seriously. Puck was pretty sure that yesterday, Berry and Josh had never spoken to each other and now, here they were, walking hand in hand down the street.

Of all the people Puck didn't want to see Berry with, Josh Hutchinson was most definitely right up there.

Sarah had reached Berry by this point and Puck realised that he should probably move before they saw him staring at them like some sort of psycho.

His feet seemed ridiculously heavy as he strode the few feet down the sidewalk and he felt inexplicably nauseous. Berry and Josh both looked up and saw him coming, giving him a smile and a smirk, respectively.

"I see you've been roped into big brother duty, Noah," said Berry as he got within ear shot. "You didn't feel like dressing up too?"

It was only then that Puck noticed a small brown haired girl standing next to Josh who was obviously his sister. All three of them had some sort of cowboy or cowgirl outfit on. He recognised Berry's from their 'Last Name' routine but she must've borrowed one of the other girls' costume because she hadn't performed that song with them.

"No," he said.

"Oh," she replied, noting the shortness of his answer. The atmosphere between the three teenagers was incredibly awkward.

"What are you doing here?" Puck asked her.

"Josh asked me to help take Megan round for trick or treating," she replied, flashing a smile in Josh's direction and the dick returned the expression.

"I didn't know you two knew each other," Puck said, giving Josh a cold look but Josh just grinned serenely back at him.

"We met last night at the party." Berry told him. "I knocked into him when I tripped over my own feet!"

"And as a punishment I forced her to accompany me." Josh said and Berry playfully hit his arm.

"You didn't force me; I wanted to come! And being with you and Meg hasn't been anything like a punishment."

"Good," Josh said, "I'm glad you're having fun."

"Rachel your hat is _so_ cool," Sarah said and Puck was glad for the slight change in conversation because the friendliness between Berry and Josh was really getting on his nerves.

The talk about costumes had involved all of the girls in their little group so it left Josh and Puck standing on the side lines.

"So, I missed you at the party last night, Puckerman." Josh said, a smug smile sitting on his face.

"I had better things to do with my time than spend it with the likes of you." Puck retorted and Josh's grin widened.

"That's too bad, Puckerman, because your absence just paved the way for me to snag myself some Berry. You should've _seen_ what she was wearing last night, man." Josh glanced hungrily at Berry and Puck clenched his fists.

"I warned you to stay the fuck away from her," Puck growled quietly so that the others wouldn't hear.

"Yeah? And what are you going to do to stop me?"

Puck was about to tell Josh _exactly_ what he was going to do to stop him but Berry turned back into their conversation. "How come you weren't at Brittany's party last night?" she asked him.

"I had to babysit Sarah," he said. He wasn't sure why he didn't just tell her that he wasn't invited. It'd probably make her feel guilty about the dares she'd put him through but he didn't want her to know how much she was beating him at their game.

Sarah, who'd been listening in on their conversation, opened her mouth and Puck was sure she was going to contradict his story, so he tugged on her arm.

"Well, we'd better be going." He said before Sarah got a chance. "Lots of houses to try yet." He tugged Sarah along and her friends dutifully followed.

"Goodbye!" Berry called and Puck glanced back just in time to see Josh put his arm around Berry's shoulder and brush his lips against her temple as she smiled gently at him.

How could they be so affectionate after knowing each other less than a day? Josh was obviously putting on a pretty decent act to try and fool Berry that he was a nice guy. There was no way that Josh was interested in her as a person, he only wanted to get into her pants. The idea of him leaving her so humiliated and heartbroken made Puck feel physically sick. But a disturbing realisation that made him feel even worse, was that a few weeks ago Puck would have have probably acted exactly the same way with any other hot girl that crossed his path.

Puck was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear Sarah say to her friends, "Noah is _so_ in love with that Rachel girl."

* * *

A/N A slightly unusual chapter this seeing as the dares don't really feature at all. They'll be back next chapter though so don't worry.

Just a note to say that the guy that Matt dressed up for at Halloween was Formula 1 driver, Lewis Hamilton. I don't know if most of you know who he is but he and Nicole Scherzinger are a couple. Turk and Carla are characters from Scrubs. You guys got that, right? Oh, and I researched the actor that I've based Josh on from the pilot episode and it turns out he used to go out with Miley Cyrus. What a small world.

Um, I would say that the next chapter shouldn't be too far away but I'm not very good at predicting future updates L But, if you follow me on twitter (rdare88) I'll probably be able to let you know when to expect new chapters.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed that chapter, we're nearly into double figures! Wooooo!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXx


	10. Playing the Game

Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

She's back? Only a week later?

To be honest, most of this chapter was written when I posted chapter 9 but I didn't want to say the next one would be up so soon in case I got writer's block and you had to wait a long time again!

Thank you to those who reviewed and added this story to their alerts/favourites. I love you all!

Chapter 10: Playing The Game

"Puck!" Mr Schuester called but there was no response. "_Noah Puckerman_!"

Puck started and stared up to the front of the classroom where the Spanish teacher was looking worriedly at him. A quick glance around the room showed Puck that the rest of the class were staring at him too. Fuck, he must've been asked a question.

"Um, Ecuador?" Puck guessed, judging by Mr Schue's scrawl on the blackboard.

Mr Schuester sighed, his shoulders slumping a little. "No, Puck, Miss Pillsbury is here to see you." The Spanish teacher gestured towards the door and for the first time Puck was aware of the school guidance counsellor peering into the classroom with her typical wide-eyed expression.

Puck frowned. He hadn't made an appointment with Ms P so why the hell was she here to see him?

He became aware that everyone was still staring at him so he gathered his things and followed Ms P out of the room.

As the door swung shut behind him Miss Pillsbury turned to face him with a little smile. "I thought we'd just have a little chat in my office, Noah."

Puck shrugged to show that he didn't really care, which was partly true because he was pretty fucking exhausted. It was those damn fucking dreams again.

For a while he'd managed to get them under control (or, more accurately, he'd become used to the idea of frequently dreaming about Berry) but since Saturday evening the dreams had taken a distressing turn. He was still dreaming about Berry but now there was an added character in them. Josh.

Sometimes the dream Berry and Josh would be a bit like they were on Saturday; all smiles, handholding and chaste kisses, which was frankly quite fucking sickening. Other times Puck was some kind of pervy dream voyeur because his subconscious would make him watch the two of them have sex in various scenarios. It was just _wrong_ on so many levels but it also always left him with a tinge of jealousy at the thought that dream-Josh was getting what he wanted. But the other type of dream was the worst. In them, Josh would reveal his true nature and act like a complete bastard, telling Berry that he was only using her for sex, that he hated her. Berry was obviously heartbroken and her anguished, tear-stained face kept flashing up in his mind even when he was awake. Sometimes she'd be dressed in that angel outfit she'd worn to Brittany's party (someone had posted photos of the Halloween party online) except apart from the pristine virginal white that it had been (seriously, she couldn't have looked more innocent in that outfit if she'd tried) the costume was now a sickly mixture of blood red and black, and the wings and halo would be torn and broken. It was majorly disturbing.

He wished he could make himself not care about what happened to Berry. So she was likely to get her heart broken; big deal. It happened to people every day. She'd get over it.

He'd be able to adopt this attitude, no problem, if it weren't for a couple of points: firstly, he felt like this Josh situation was _his_ fault because through the dares he'd given her, he'd forced the student population (and more specifically, Josh) to notice her in a positive way. And secondly, the idea of Berry being so distraught caused a weird feeling inside his body that was an addition to the guilt. He wasn't sure what it was but sometimes it was so intense that it actually hurt a little. However, what he _did_ know was that he didn't want to see Berry upset (and he meant _really_ upset because she got upset over trivial things all the time).

He needed to talk to Berry, to warn her about Josh but over the past couple of days he hadn't had an opportunity. Berry and Josh practically went everywhere together, always holding hands and looking all loved up which was so ridiculous given the length of time that they knew each other. And, every time that Josh saw him looking in their direction the fucker would smirk at him, revelling in his anger, before kissing her. It would make him burn with fury and he'd have to go off to some other part of the school to calm down. Josh would even escort her to and from glee club. It was driving him crazy.

He could have texted Berry, telling her to meet him, but she'd changed her cell number when Jacob Ben Israel wouldn't leave her alone. And, seeing as Puck had been the one to share her number with Jewfro in the first place, she'd refused to give him her new one.

The click of Miss Pillsbury's high heeled shoes came to a halt as she entered into her office, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Take a seat," she said, gesturing towards a chair opposite her desk.

Puck slumped into the seat as Ms P perched carefully on her own. Puck stared at her blankly, waiting for her to say something since he had no idea why he was here. The school counsellor leant forward and leant her elbows on her desk, hands clasped.

"I understand that you recently suffered a loss, Noah." She said gently.

Puck frowned, wondering what she was talking about.

"If you don't wish to talk about your grandmother then I completely understand." Ms P continued and he realised what she was talking about now; his fake dead gran.

She pulled something out of one of the drawers in her desk and she repeatedly turned it round in her hand, her fingers moving round the edges. It was a pale blue pamphlet and Puck could just make out the words, 'My grief has made me crazy' on the front before Ms P turned it again.

"You know, sometimes, Noah, the grief we experience at losing a loved one can cause us great emotional imbalance and make us act in unexpected ways. And, as I said, I _understand_ your preference to not talk about your grandmother, but I think that expressing your feelings about her death will help you to gain some stability within your life again. Here," she pushed the pamphlet across the desk towards him, "this should help you if you don't wish to talk to me."

Puck stared at the pamphlet and resisted the urge to laugh at how absurd this situation was because that probably wouldn't convince Miss Pillsbury of his sanity.

"I'm not crazy or upset about my Gran," he said and she gave him a pitying smile.

"Noah, in last Friday's assembly you performed a song whilst cross-dressed, I've been informed that you kissed a male member of the student population and you were reduced to tears in a glee club rehearsal. Now, obviously, there is nothing _wrong_ with anything that you did but it is highly irregular to your character. I was asked to talk to you by my colleagues because they are concerned about you, Noah."

Puck sighed. "Okay, I know what it looks like but there's a reason that I did all those things."

"If you don't wish to talk to me about it I could arrange for an external counsellor to see you."

"My gran hasn't died." He told her bluntly. "Well, she has, but that was a long time ago. I just had to lie about something and my gran dying was the first thing that popped into my head." Admitting the lie might not have been the best thing to do but it had obviously gotten _way_ out of hand and if they'd actually recommended him for proper counselling then they'd have had to tell him mom and then he'd have been in whole lot of shit because she clearly knew that his gran had been dead for a while.

Miss Pillsbury blinked at him with her typical wide eyes. "She hasn't just died?"

"She's been dead about three years." Puck confirmed. "I'm sorry that you've gone to all this effort for me but there's really nothing to worry about." He shoved the folded piece of blue paper back at her and she frowned at it.

"On the contrary, Noah, I am just as concerned as I was before." Miss Pillsbury said, seriously. "The death of your grandmother provided a logical explanation as to why you were behaving out of character. If there is some, other issue, that is plaguing you then you can tell me in complete confidentiality or, if you'd prefer, you can peruse my collection of pamphlets; I have many variations."

Puck doubted that Ms P had one on how to beat Rachel Berry at dares so he shook his head. "No, I'm fine."

Miss Pillsbury looked at him shrewdly, head slightly cocked to one side. "Has this got anything to do with a girl?"

Puck jumped slightly, surprised that she had somewhat worked out the cause of his recent troubles. "Sorta," he replied. He could've just denied that anything was wrong but Ms P had a face that made you tell the truth (or at least a half-truth).

"Or a boy, then?" She queried.

"No!" he said harshly and then sighed. "It's about a girl."

Miss Pillsbury nodded and she didn't look particularly surprised. "Do you wish to discuss it with me?" she asked tentatively.

"Not really, it's all kind of messed up."

"I see, well, as there doesn't seem to be much more for us to talk about I'll simply offer you this piece of advice; just be yourself. If this girl doesn't like the real Noah Puckerman then maybe she isn't worth your efforts."

"Um, thanks. Can I go back to class now?" he asked.

"Oh, sure."

Puck quickly walked out of the office, glad that the bizarre conversation was over. He knew Ms P meant well but the advice she'd given him didn't really apply because Berry was forcing him to behave oddly; he wasn't doing it out of choice.

But it was true what he had told the counsellor; things between he and Berry were completely weird, at least on his side – he didn't have a clue how she felt about him. She probably hated him or at least strongly disliked him.

It was so fucking messed up.

* * *

So far, Rachel was having probably her best ever week at William McKinley High School. She couldn't remember another run of days when she'd felt so happy and pleased with her life.

She was the talk of the school (and _not_ because someone had carried out a humiliating prank on her) everyone was being very nice to her, she'd managed to get an A on the retake of her Spanish midterm and, possibly best of all, she had a boyfriend.

For the first time in her life Rachel Berry had a boyfriend and she was loving the experience.

Any qualms she'd had about Josh on Friday evening had been swept away by his attentive charms over the last couple of days. Every morning he'd been waiting at school for her with a low-fat, soya hot chocolate to fight off the November morning chill. Then he would insist on carrying her books for her and holding her hand throughout the day. He made sure to introduce her to all his friends at lunchtime and he made time to get acquainted with her friends from glee club (and apologise to Artie and Kurt for his previous offences).

Josh had turned out to be a perfect replacement for Finn (except, perhaps, for his lack of a singing voice) so much so, that she'd hadn't really thought about the quarterback since she'd met Josh a few days ago.

It was Wednesday afternoon and Josh had football practice now. Rachel was walking through the corridors of McKinley with Santana and Brittany. They were looking at photos from Friday night's party on Santana's phone, laughing at the multitude of costumes.

"Oh, _God_, what was Quinn thinking of? That old dress makes her look like some fat, prudish, old hag!" exclaimed Santana and Brittany laughed with her. Rachel found that she couldn't agree; she thought that Quinn had looked beautiful in the period style dress.

"Finn looks like a grasshopper," commented Brittany.

"He's about as intelligent as one." Santana scoffed. "Robin Hood and _Maid _Marion." She sneered. "I wish Quinn would chuck in this celibacy crap already, it's _so _last millennium."

"She looks down her nose at me." Brittany said, sadly.

"Uh, I _know._" Santana spat. "What gives her the right to judge us? She's no better than us in any way."

"She's not as good at dancing as I am." Brittany pointed out.

"Exactly, and she's not as skinny or as intelligent as me." Santana said, before both girls looked at Rachel expectantly.

Rachel wasn't entirely comfortable with the conversation. Obviously, she wasn't Quinn Fabray's biggest fan – the other girl had been incredibly cruel to her on occasion, but Rachel had always been determined to rise above being rude in retaliation. Why waste her time on words when her actions could prove her point?

Brittany and Santana were still waiting. Rachel licked her lips nervously.

It wasn't as though Quinn would be offended by anything she said because she'd be saying it behind Quinn's back. She mentally winced. That sounded quite bad. But, if she didn't say anything mean about Quinn would Brittany and Santana still be her friends? She doubted it.

"Her singing isn't as good as mine," Rachel conceded. There. That wasn't so bad. And it was true so she shouldn't feel too guilty. She told people uncomfortable truths all the time in glee club and she didn't feel bad about saying them at all. This shouldn't be any different.

The other two girls grinned at her. "That's definitely true," Brittany said, "you're a much better singer than Quinn."

Santana and Brittany continued to list the things that they didn't like about Quinn and then, when that topic had been exhausted, they carried on looking through the photos.

"Berry, I need to talk to you," a voice came from behind her and she turned to see Noah walking towards her.

"Hello Puck!" Brittany cheerfully greeted.

"Brittany, Lopez," Puck acknowledged the other two Cheerios and Santana narrowed her eyes at him.

"If you want to be banned from after-game parties for the rest of the year then that's definitely the way to go about it, Puckerman. And to think I thought you'd gone back to acting normally again." She sighed. "Well, you know how to make it up to me." She touched him lightly on the shoulder but he jerked it away from her.

"In your dreams, Lopez," he snarled.

"Come on Brittany, let's not waste our time on this _loser_," Santana snapped and walked off, head held high.

"Bye Puck!" Brittany said, again in that happy tone, as she trotted after her friend.

Rachel frowned. "You told me that you had to look after Sarah on Friday night."

Noah shrugged. "So?"

"Why didn't you tell me that you weren't invited? I could have asked Brittany to let you come, I'm sure she would have let you."

"I don't need your pity invite, Berry. If I'd wanted to go to that party then I would have, invitation or not."

Rachel smiled. "Yes, I'm sure you would. So, what did you want to talk to me about? Is it another dare?" she added quietly, even though there was no one to overhear them. She hoped it wasn't a dare because she hadn't thought of one for him in return; she'd been too caught up in things with Josh.

"No, not really. But I need you to listen to what I have to say, Berry – don't go freaking the fuck out on me."

She frowned. What Noah was saying was making her feel quite nervous. "I'm listening."

"You need to keep away from Josh Hutchinson." Noah said seriously and Rachel stared at him.

"What? Why?" she spluttered.

"The guy's a complete _douche_, believe me, I know."

Rachel felt herself stiffen slightly. "If you're talking about Josh's past actions towards me and other members of the student population then you can be reassured. I'm a firm believer in second chances and I believe that people can change for the better. Finn used to torment Kurt a couple of months ago but he's halted those actions and become one of the nicest people I know. Even _you_ had somewhat improved until you feared for your reputation."

"Josh hasn't changed-"

"What makes you such an expert on Josh Hutchinson, Noah?" Rachel interrupted, beginning to get angry. "He told me that he did those things so that he would fit in with the other football players. He was in a peer-pressured situation, most others would have behaved the same way. Josh apologised to me and the other people he hurt, which is more than you've ever done!"

"I'm not talking about the past, Berry. I don't know what charms that asshole has spun on you but you shouldn't believe a single word he says."

"And I should believe you?" Rachel asked sceptically. "Why are you telling me this, Noah? What do you care if Josh is lying to me? You don't like me."

"This isn't about me," he snapped.

Rachel narrowed her eyes. "Yes it is. Your popularity has been plummeting because of these dares while mine has been growing. You're annoyed at our social standings and you're taking it out on me."

Noah laughed once, hollowly. "You think that's what this is about? Because suddenly you're cool and I'm not?"

"Isn't it?" She demanded, hands on hips.

"No! I'm trying to warn you about your fucking shithead of a boyfriend - "

"I don't have to listen to this," Rachel said and turned on her heel, walking away from him.

However she hadn't taken more than five paces when Noah called after her, "I dare you to stay away from him." Rachel stopped, frozen. He couldn't do that, could he? "It's for your own good, Berry, you wouldn't listen to me."

She turned back to face him, glaring furiously. "How dare you interfere in my relationship! My time in this school has been mostly miserable until now, when I have lots of friends and a boyfriend and you're ruining it!" She felt tears prickling at her eyes and she blinked them away. "This has _nothing_ to do with you, Noah."

He looked back at her, stonily.

Rachel sighed. She had no choice, did she? Her gut clenched at the thought of how upset Josh was going to be when she began avoiding him. She gasped as she realised something.

"I can't do your dare," she told him and Noah raised his eyebrows, looking surprised.

"I win? You're making yourself lose this game because of Hutchinson?"

"No, based on the rules that we put in place for this game from the beginning, your dare doesn't count because my actions will be hurting another person's feelings." She told him smugly. Take that Noah Puckerman!

Noah gaped at her and then swore violently. "Fuck!"

Rachel jumped and scowled at his bad language. "That's quite enough cursing from you, Noah. It's really quite tiresome, especially when it's directed at myself or people that I care about. So, no swearing and no insults – that's your next dare. And I shall inform Sarah that you've stopped swearing and I'm sure she'd be more than happy to tell me if you slip up."

Noah scowled. "So now you're taking my freedom of speech, Berry? Do you want the fu, clothes off of my back too or how about my liver? You've had pretty much everything else."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, Noah, I'll only make the dare last until next Friday. And there's no need to feel so hard done by; I'm simply playing the game. It's not my fault that I have a talent at spotting what components of your life are the most important to you."

Noah narrowed his eyes at her. "You're right, Berry," he said, shaking his head after a few moments of silence. "I haven't been thinking these dares through properly _at all_."

Something about the way he was talking was unnerving Rachel slightly. She steeled herself – his dares were never _that_ bad. She'd managed to come through this game unscathed so far…

"I dare you to give up all your leads in glee club." Noah said and Rachel gasped, clutching a hand to her chest.

"You want me to quit glee?" she asked, voice trembling.

"No, a clean break would probably be easier on you. You can devote yourself to backing vocals from now on, Berry, and watch as other people sing _your_ solos."

Rachel felt cold. _So _cold and her heart was beating hard, the echo resonating through her body. She didn't mind being a team player every now and then but being constantly in the background was the antithesis of being Rachel Berry; she was a star, nothing less.

"Noah, please…" she started but shook her head. She knew there was no point trying to reason with him and did she deserve his pity after some of the things she had made him do? So much for coming through this game unscathed.

"Don't you care about sectionals?" she asked, leaving it unspoken that they obviously wouldn't win if she didn't sing lead on at least one song.

"You've got to announce it to the group in tomorrow's rehearsal." Noah said, ignoring her question.

Rachel nodded, numbly. This felt like some sort of nightmare. Even though she'd gained so much in the last week or so, she'd always had her voice. But now it was as though it had been stripped from her. She'd have to watch Mercedes, Tina, Kurt, Quinn and maybe even Santana and Brittany sing _her_ songs. The tears started rolling down her cheeks before she could stop them and she made a half-hearted attempt to wipe them away.

But she didn't _have_ to do go through with this. She could quit. There was nothing forcing her to keep playing except her own determination to beat Noah. He thought he'd beaten her with this dare; he didn't think she'd go through with it. Well, there was more to Rachel Berry than just singing now – she was a Cheerio and she had more friends. Surely she'd be able to find another group or club where she could express her musical talent?

But it wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't be New Directions.

This week had been so perfect and then Noah had come along and completely ruined it.

"See you tomorrow then, Berry." He muttered as he started to walk past her.

"I hate you," she whispered harshly, glaring at the calf of his torn and scruffy jeans.

He stiffened and she thought that he was going to say something but he remained silent as he walked away down the corridor.

When the sound of his footsteps disappeared she released the sobs that she had been holding in. She leant against the lockers and slid down to the floor, burying her head in her arms.

* * *

A/N Okay, so, from here on in the dares aren't quite as amusing anymore – things have gotten slightly more serious, which was inevitable really. And also, there isn't actually that far to go in this story, which is why it's been updated before my other stories. I'd estimate at another four chapters but some of those are probably going to be rather long.

The next chapter is about half written again and part of me wants to finish the story first and then post the chapters but I like to get your feedback after each one. Your reviews honestly do have an impact on what I write and I don't want to write too far ahead in case I want to change it.

So, there's a chance that the next chapter might go up in the next couple of weeks but I don't want to neglect my other stories either.

If you could let me know what you thought of the chapter I'd greatly appreciate it!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXx


	11. It's a Miserable Life

Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

A/N Hi guys! Not too long a wait for this one, and you've been given the longest chapter yet!

Thank you to all those who reviewed or added this story to their alerts/favourites! xXxXx

As I mentioned at the end of the last chapter, things are getting more serious now. This is not just a fluffy cutesy story about dares. That being said, I also need to give you a warning for a slight bit of n/c at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 11: It's a Miserable Life

* * *

Puck made his way to the choir room, glad that he was finally going to be free of the sight of Berry and Hutchinson. He'd seen them together so fucking often today that he was almost convinced that someone had inserted some freaky clones of them around the school. Either that or he was going insane and just imagining them.

Josh, obviously, was still all smug that he was making Puck jealous and Berry was trying to flaunt the relationship in front of him too (because she knew that Puck didn't want her going out with Josh but luckily she didn't really know why). However, she wasn't being particularly effective at this because she'd possessed a somewhat haunted look all day.

Her expression would always turn cold and angry when she caught him looking at her but he was hardly surprised. He'd found her weak spot (and frankly he was amazed that he hadn't thought of it sooner because this _was_ Rachel Berry he was playing against) and he was about to get even for everything she'd put him through. It was only fair that she should have to suffer as much as he did, wasn't it?

Berry's devastated, tear stained face flashed in his mind. However, this wasn't from one of those nightmares he kept having about Berry where Josh broke her heart. No, this was from yesterday when he'd set her dare. His body prickled uncomfortably and he tried to shake off the guilt. _She_ probably hadn't felt guilty when she'd ruined him so why should he feel bad when the situations were reversed?

He reached the door to their rehearsal room and walked through, noting that only a handful of people were here so far, including Berry. She was sitting on her own staring desolately at the floor.

He sat on a chair next to her but she didn't react. "Berry," he said. No response. "_Rachel._"

She glanced up at him. "Noah," she greeted lowly.

"Are you okay?" he asked somewhat pointlessly.

"What do you think?" she snapped at him in a voice that was very unlike her.

He shrugged and she went back to looking at the floor again.

After a couple of minutes of silence most of the rest of glee club had turned up. "You don't have to do it, you know." He told her and he saw her glance at him out of the corner of her eye. "Rachel Berry's supposed to be a _star_, not some lowly background singer. Isn't that going against your little sticker metaphor?"

The part of her eye that he could see began to go teary again and he wondered why the hell he was doing this to her. He didn't hate her. In fact, he very much didn't want to hurt her at all but he seemed to be doing a much better job of it than Josh was.

He'd just gotten so frustrated at her yesterday for not listening to him (after she said she _would) _and for trying to take away another part of who he was, that he'd decided to see how _she_ liked it.

But perhaps he'd gone too far – her reaction had gone above and beyond any discomfort he'd felt at the dares she'd given him.

Yet, shouldn't he want to push her too far so she'd give this game up? This dare thing had given him a shit load of trouble over the past few weeks. He should want it out of his life for good.

But the problem was – he didn't.

It was stupid; pathetic, even, but he knew that when their game was over this connection he had with Berry would be gone. He'd see her around school and in glee rehearsals but it wouldn't be the same. They wouldn't be tied to each other anymore. Puck wasn't ready to give that up yet.

He didn't want her to be upset because of him and he really wanted her to stop hating him (however unlikely that seemed at this point). Maybe he could take the dare back? Ah, but then Berry would want to know why he'd gone soft on her and that could lead to awkward revelations and Puck definitely didn't want that to happen.

His thoughts were seriously scrambling his brain and the fact that he had to think properly before he said anything now was really tiring. It wasn't _that_ bad because instead of saying his insults out loud, he simply thought them (Unlike the girl sitting next to him, Puck could keep some of his opinions to himself.) and so his dare was likely to be fulfilled. That had definitely been one of her poorer efforts.

Mr Schue entered the room, eagerly rubbing his hands together.

"Just quit the game and you don't have to go through with it." Puck whispered to Berry but she glared at him.

"Oh, you'd love that, wouldn't you?" she whispered harshly back at him before raising her hand into the air to get Schue's attention.

"Yes, Rachel?" he asked uneasily.

"Mr Schuester, I have an announcement to make," she told him and he reluctantly motioned for her to take to the floor.

She smoothed the front of her Cheerios top and cast her eyes nervously around the room. "I have re-" she started quietly, but then cleared her throat and continued in a slightly louder voice. "I have recently discovered that the pressure of singing a vocal lead is no longer something that I wish to aspire to. From now on I don't," she paused and took a deep breath and stared at the floor in front of her feet. "I don't wish to be considered for any female leads and I relinquish all the leads I have previously been given." She finished in a voice barely above a whisper.

Everyone was looking at Berry with confusion. Finn let out a forced laugh. "Rachel, you're just joking, right?" She looked up at him with teary eyes and bit her lip before shaking her head.

"I'm committed to singing in a supporting role." Her voice trembled.

"Rachel, I don't understand," Mr Schue moved towards her, shielding her from everyone else's stunned expressions. "What's brought this on?"

Puck could see Berry blinking rapidly to try and force the tears to stay away but she seemed to be fighting a losing battle. "I'm sorry, Mr Schue," she mumbled and then bolted out of the room.

"Rachel!" Schue called but she didn't come back. He turned around to face the rest of the group, looking bewildered. "Uh, perhaps we should forget about rehearsal for today," he said before walking out of the room too. Finn stood up, looking like he wanted to follow but he thought better of it and sank back into his seat.

"What just happened?" Brittany asked, looking puzzled.

"Rachel just gave up all her solos," Mike said slowly, as though he couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"Which one of her parts do you want?" Kurt excitedly asked Mercedes.

"There's obviously something wrong with her, _idiot,_" snapped Santana, glaring frostily at Kurt. "We've only got a few weeks til sectionals so Mr Schue had better sort her out."

Puck felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise and looked round to see Quinn staring at him. She didn't look away, just continued looking at him, a thoughtful expression on her face. It freaked Puck out a little so he turned back.

Did Quinn know? He'd already suspected that she might've known that something was going on between him and Berry but it seemed unlikely that she knew the full details. And so what if she did? There was nothing he could do about it.

Seeing as Mr Schuester had called the rehearsal off Puck didn't see any reason for him to hang around. He picked up his stuff and walked out of the room, knowing that no matter how much he tried to tell himself that he had given Berry a choice, he wouldn't be able to shake off this guilt.

* * *

Puck slammed his front door closed before stuffing his keys into his pocket. He was glad to be home after having to endure all the taunts and insults of his teammates in training that afternoon. Sarah might be on Berry's payroll to make sure that he didn't swear but apart from that he could relax and be himself.

He had just kicked off his shoes when he heard someone laugh and he froze because it definitely _wasn't_ his mom or his sister. It was a guy's voice.

Slightly curious he walked further into the house and discovered something like one of those fucking nightmares he'd been having for the last week and a half; Sarah, Berry and Josh were all sat on his sofa watching some kind of teeny crap on the television. Josh had his arm around Berry and she was resting her head on his shoulder with her feet tucked up under her Cheerios skirt.

"What on earth's going on here?" he asked. He would've used more colourful language (despite the fact that Sarah was there) but he wasn't prepared to lose his dare.

Berry looked up at him with thinly veiled dislike. "Your mother had to work late and she asked me to watch over Sarah until you got home from school." She said coldly. It had been a week since he had made her give up her leads and she was obviously still hurting from it. He thought she'd be eager to give him another dare so he could fail it and she'd get her parts back but, in fact, this was the first time she'd spoken to him since that glee rehearsal. Maybe she was waiting for him to finish this crappy swearing/insulting dare before she gave him another one, or perhaps he'd just burned her too bad with that singing one and she wasn't ready to jump back into them again. He didn't really care.

Okay, so that was bullshit. He did care about her; he didn't want to but he just couldn't help it. He'd missed her these last few days, even if she would've been a total misery if she had been around. But she seemed to be spending all of her time with her new friends and Josh now. Speaking of which…

"What's Hutchinson doing here?" he asked and Josh pulled Berry tighter against him, much to Puck's disgust.

"Josh offered to wait with me and your mom said it would be okay." Berry shrugged. "Where've you been? School finished two hours ago."

"I had football practice," Puck replied, giving Josh a pointed look.

Berry gasped and turned to slap Josh on the shoulder and he winced. "You told me you didn't have practice today!" she cried.

"I know, baby, but I just, I wanted to be with _you_," Josh said and Puck wrinkled his nose in disgust at his sappy tone of voice.

Berry's face softened. "Oh," she sighed and she leaned forward to press her lips against his. Sarah rolled her eyes at the two of them and scooted further along the sofa while Puck clenched his fists in anger.

Berry pulled away and gave Josh a sickly sweet smile. "Josh, as much as it pleases me that you prefer to spend your time with me rather than playing football, I must remind you that you have made a commitment to the team and in the future I shall be very cross if you don't participate in practices because of me."

Josh nodded. "Okay, I promise it won't happen again, sugar."

Puck raised an eyebrow. _Sugar?_ Seriously? Josh was totally faking all this crap.

"Good. It was really very wrong of you to lie to me, Josh." Berry admonished.

"Yeah? And what are you going to do to punish me?" Josh asked suggestively, putting his hand just above her knee.

Berry flushed bright red and pushed his hand away. "Josh!" she gasped but he only chuckled.

"I was only joking, pumpkin, c'mere," Josh cradled her cheek in his hand and pulled her in for another kiss. When ten seconds had passed and Berry and Josh were still attached at the lips, Sarah let out a noise of disgust and announced that she was going to her room.

Puck was milliseconds away from pulling Josh off of Berry when the two of them finally parted. Berry's eyes were dark with desire and it incensed him that that douche could have that effect on her when she'd apparently felt nothing after he'd kissed her. He also couldn't believe that she had the gall to kiss Hutchinson like that in _his_ house. Okay, so she wasn't aware of his feelings (damn fucking feelings) but wasn't it, like, rude or something to make out with someone in someone _else's_ house.

Whatever. It was time for them both to fuck off and leave him the hell alone.

"Well, thanks for helping out and all, but, you can go now that I'm back." Puck stated gruffly, walking over to turn the TV off so that he wouldn't have to look at them.

"Oh, yeah, sure," he heard Berry reply. "Let me just get my stuff and say bye to Sarah." Puck was tidying up the DVD cases strewn around the TV (something that he would never normally do willingly) He could hear Berry and Josh getting up from the couch but he only heard one set of footsteps leave the room. Puck tensed as he knew he was alone in the room with Josh.

"So, Puckerman, how's life been treating you?" Josh asked. "Managed to convince Hummel to go on a date with you yet?"

"Get lost, Hutchinson," Puck spat, turning to face the twat with furious eyes.

"_Get lost?_" Josh repeated with an eyebrow raised. "I know you're a queer, Puckerman, but don't you think you could man up a little bit? That was just fucking embarrassing."

Puck ignored him, knowing that Berry could appear any second and he didn't want her to see him swearing at/insulting/beating the living shit out of Josh.

"But you must've done something right because the football team have decided that you're allowed to come to the party on Friday night." Josh said, with a smile that Puck totally didn't trust. "It's at Kaylee Briars' house. You've been there before, right?"

Puck nodded. Kaylee Briars had one of the best (and biggest) houses in the whole of Lima; it had an inside pool (but they weren't allowed in the pool whenever there was a party on) and everything. Not to mention…

"Seven bedrooms." Josh said and Puck was sure there was some sort of evil glint in his eyes. "Rachel and I totally plan on taking advantage of one of those rooms."

Puck felt himself go cold at the words but he forced himself to say, "There's no way Berry would give it up to you after only two weeks."

Josh grinned. "Oh, you have _no idea_ what that little slut is willing to do. Don't you remember her little speech in the celibacy club?"

Puck glared at Josh for his insult about Berry but cast his mind back a few months to the beginning of the school year when she had been nothing more to him than a girl that he liked to throw slushies at. He remembered something about Berry saying that girls wanted sex just as much as guys do but he kinda hoped she hadn't meant it. Surely this was just about Josh trying to wind him up.

The sound of feet coming down the stairs alerted them both to Berry's presence and they halted their conversation.

"Well, I suppose we'll see you at school tomorrow, Noah." Berry said, holding her hand out to Josh, who took it and kissed it.

Puck shrugged. "Whatever."

And with that, Berry and Josh promptly left and Puck let out a sigh of relief. He was still slightly unsettled about what Hutchinson had said though. He knew it was none of his business who Berry went out with (and slept with) and Puck could probably cope if it was some other guy but Josh was a complete fucking douchebag! If Berry heard the things that Josh said about her to him then she'd know that. Maybe he should try and secretly record Josh saying shit about her and then he could play it back for her. But she'd probably insist that he'd forced Josh to say those things about her.

He _hated_ how much Rachel Berry had managed to screw with his head without trying. It sucked ass.

He would've sat and (not) sulked on the sofa but he remembered that Berry and Hutchison had just made out sitting there. Maybe he could convince him mom to get a new one before he had to sit on it again.

"Nooooaaah?" Sarah whined from upstairs somewhere.

"What?" he asked, coming to stand at the foot of the staircase.

"Are they gone yet?" Sarah asked as she emerged to sit on the top step, head in hands.

"Yeah, they've gone."

"Good. They were _so_ gross." Puck couldn't disagree with her there. "And Rachel was totally not as fun as she was before. I think it's that boyfriend of hers. He seems like such a jerkface."

"Why, what'd he do?"

"Nothing really, I just don't like him. She should be going out with you instead. I know you can be a bit of a jerkface too but you can be nice when you want to."

"Thanks," he said, sarcastically.

"I was trying to be nice," Sarah replied. "You can be a meany and you know it. You like it. You're a bully at your school, aren't you? Megan Fisher told me so because you tossed her brother into the dumpster."

"I don't do that stuff anymore," Puck said. He didn't particularly feel like having his sister call him out on all the shitty things he used to do.

"Rachel'll never love you if you do mean things." Sarah pointed out.

"I don't want her to love me." Puck retorted.

"Yeah you do," Sarah said, as though he was an idiot. "You want her to be your girlfriend."

"_No_, I don't." And deep down, part of him knew that this was at least partly true. That's what made his moping after Berry even more ridiculous. Yeah, so he thought Berry was hot and he'd definitely like the opportunity to fuck her, but he didn't think that he wanted to date her. He wasn't really the dating sort of person. The last relationship he'd had was with Santana and that had been a fucking nightmare. They'd fought all the time and he hadn't been at all faithful to her (and he knew she wasn't being faithful to him either, so he wasn't a _total_ douchebag.) Puck cared about Berry way more than he ever had about Santana and he really didn't want to hurt her. But, if they started going out, he was pretty sure that he'd hurt her eventually. And he wasn't into all that lovey-dovey stuff Josh sent her way. Berry deserved better than him. It was a depressing conclusion.

"And anyway, even if I _did_ want to go out with Berry it would never happen because she hates me."

"Oh," Sarah said, frowning. "Why does she hate you?"

"None of your business." He didn't want to discuss Berry with his kid sister. It was just weird.

Sarah walked down the stairs towards him. "Well," she said and she flung her little body at him. He briefly considered letting her fall to the ground but thought that was a bit harsh, so he caught her instead and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'll always love you, Noah." She said and kissed his cheek.

Puck chuckled. "Thanks, kiddo."

* * *

"I still can't believe that we actually won a game!" Santana said before taking a large sip from her drink.

"We won?" Brittany asked in surprise. "I wondered why everyone was so happy."

Rachel smiled. Brittany's cluelessness was really quite endearing.

"And Josh coming over to you after he got that touchdown was so cute it made me want to vomit." Santana said to her and Rachel felt her face flush. Josh had scored to put McKinley in the lead with only seconds to spare. She had felt so proud and then happily embarrassed when he had sought her out to celebrate with him. She could recall the sounds of the catcalls as Josh had spun her round and kissed her in front of the entire crowd.

The team were absolutely ecstatic with their win and the celebrations had truly gotten under way now that they were at the after party.

Rachel was pleased for her friends and she was determined to enjoy the occasion no matter how depressed she still was over the surrender of her leads in glee.

It had been just over a week since she had committed herself to back up singing and honestly, she hated going to glee rehearsals now. Standing in the background and listening to the other girls singing _her _songs was a form of personal torture, especially when she knew she could sing it better than them. She'd consider quitting glee club altogether but she knew that they needed twelve members to compete at sectionals and besides, Noah had told her that she had to be a backing singer.

_Noah_. She'd been reluctantly thinking of Noah Puckerman quite a lot these past few days. She wanted to think horrible thoughts about him and come up with dares that would make him suffer but she couldn't do it. Whenever she thought about Noah she just felt guilty about how monstrous some of her dares for him had been.

Yes, they had been playing a game of dare but it had taken giving up something so personal for her to see that she had altered Noah's life completely and had surely made him as miserable as she was (although he seemed to hide it better).

She was beginning to doubt whether they should continue with their dares anymore, which was why she'd been avoiding him recently (that and she felt both guilt and anger whenever she saw him). Maybe he'd agree to a truce? That way, although neither would win, nobody would lose either. Then she'd be eligible for glee leads again and he could work on getting his reputation back.

Brittany and Santana laughed loudly next to her and Rachel was pulled out of her thoughts. She saw Josh through the crowd and waved to him.

"Hey, beautiful," he greeted her, with a kiss on the cheek. "Are you having a good time?"

"Yeah," she replied, although she didn't really mean it. She didn't want to be the one bringing everyone else down with her gloom. All her friends knew that she was sad over her new role in glee club but they didn't really understand what was wrong seeing as they thought she'd given up her parts voluntarily. Whenever they brought glee up she would just change the subject. She just wished there was a way that she could leave all her hurt and guilt behind her and just enjoy the night like everyone else.

"Good," Josh replied and then took a drink from his cup.

Something clicked in Rachel's brain and a nervous thrill shot through her body. Didn't people always recommend alcohol as a means to forget one's troubles? And here she was, at a high school party, where there was plenty of drink to go round.

"What are you drinking?" she asked Josh.

"Beer, you want some?" He held out the cup towards her and she looked down on the liquid pensively. She'd only drunk alcohol with her fathers' permission; an odd glass of wine at a celebratory occasion. She'd never actually been drunk, probably the only person at the party who hadn't. There had to be a first time for everything, didn't there?

"Um, okay," She said and took a small sip from the plastic cup. It tasted like nothing she'd ever had before and she pulled a face.

Josh, Brittany and Santana laughed. "Not a fan of beer, then?" Josh said and Rachel shook her head.

"No, I don't think so."

"You want to go get a drink from the kitchen?" Santana asked. "They've got other stuff, it's not just beer."

Rachel nodded. "Sure."

The girls bid Josh farewell and headed into the kitchen where most of the alcohol was being kept. Rachel wasn't sure whether Kaylee Briars had bought it all herself or people had brought along different things themselves.

Upon Santana's advice she settled for a vodka and lemonade. Rachel didn't really know what ratio of vodka to lemonade she wanted so she just left it to Santana. The Latina was obviously very good at mixing drinks though because Rachel could only just detect an added flavour to the lemonade and it wasn't entirely unpleasant.

She couldn't really notice a difference in the way she felt or acted while she drank this first drink. She knew that it was unlikely she'd be drunk after one drink but to have no reaction at all was quite disappointing.

She excused herself from the group of cheerios she was talking to and made her way back to the kitchen. She didn't have Santana here to mix the drink for her this time; she'd just have to do it herself.

She saw the bottle of vodka she had used previously and unscrewed the cap, wondering how much she should put in. She put in the same amount that Santana did and then added half that amount again. She reasoned with herself that if she didn't like the effect that it had on her then she could always drink water for the rest of the night.

She'd just put the vodka back where it came from when a familiar voice made her jump.

"I thought you didn't drink alcohol in case it messed up your voice."

Rachel turned her head and saw that the kitchen was empty except for Noah. He was leaning against the sink with his arms folded. Something about seeing him when she was actively trying to forget him and the emotions that she associated with him made her angry.

"Well, it's not as though I have any leads to preserve my voice for anymore, is it?" She snapped at him then grabbed the bottle of lemonade to top up her drink.

"You brought it on yourself, Berry. You happily told me that I wasn't playing this game properly and now I am. If you don't like it then just quit." He told her and she felt herself tense in irritation.

"You got one good dare in. I doubt it'll happen aga –"

"You're playing _dares,_" said another familiar voice and Rachel turned slightly to see Quinn looking at them both in disgust. "That's what all this nonsense has been about? Dares?"

Rachel swallowed nervously and looked at Noah for a clue as to how to play this but he was just looking at Quinn blankly.

"I – I don't know what you're t – talking about, Quinn," Rachel tried but Quinn gave her such a scathing look that she stopped her feeble defence at once.

"I knew there was something weird going on between you two, but, dares?" Quinn shook her head and laughed slightly. "That's probably the most idiotic thing I've ever heard and I hang around a lot with Brittany and Finn."

"What Berry and I get up to is none of your fucking business, Fabray," Noah said, glaring at her.

"You two are complete fools." She snapped at them. "Don't you see how miserable you've made each other over a _fucking_ game?"

Rachel knew that Quinn must be really angry at them (though she didn't really know why) because she never swore. "Why do you care if we're unhappy?" The question slipped out before she could stop herself. But she had to wonder because Quinn was normally the one causing her misery.

"I _don't_ care about you," Quinn insisted. "But your childish game has started to affect aspects of my life."

Rachel should've known that this would all be about Quinn so she took the lead from Noah and remained silent.

"And you've got people worried about you," Quinn continued and Rachel knew this was true. After she had run out of glee club last week Mr Schuester had tracked her down and arranged for her to have a meeting with Ms Pillsbury. She knew that she was letting Mr Schuester and the rest of New Directions down and she'd already admitted to herself that her friends were worried about her. She was being selfish in playing this game.

"You should both pack this in before one of you crosses the line and gets really hurt." Quinn said to them with her hands on her hips, trying to force them to her will.

When neither of them responded, she scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you. I'll leave you to it _children._" And with that she turned on her heel and flounced off to another part of the house.

There were a few moments of silence before Noah said, "What do we do now?"

Rachel looked at him and shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps we should work it out later."

Noah nodded. "Okay."

And before he could say anything else she grabbed her drink and went off to find Josh. That confrontation with Quinn and the exchange with Noah had made her feel even more miserable than before.

She took a large gulp of her drink. The alcohol in it was much more pronounced and she welcomed the taste, hoping it would make her sadness disappear.

She found Josh standing with a group of his friends.

"Hey, babe, we were just about to play 'I have never'. You wanna join in?" He asked, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

"I don't know what that is." She replied, frowning.

"Oh, well, it's a drinking game. You each take it in turns to say something that you have never done and if somebody in the group has done it then they have to drink two fingers' width of their drink." Josh explained. "Get it?"

"I think so," Rachel replied.

"Here's an example, if I said, 'I have never participated in glee club,' then you and anyone else who's been in glee club has to drink."

Rachel nodded. "So, if I said, 'I have never played on the football team' then _you'd _have to drink?"

"Exactly. So, you wanna play? Brittany and Santana are gonna."

"Sure," Rachel said and Josh beamed at her. He guided her over to where about eight or so people were sitting in a rough circle in different seats. Josh sat down in an armchair and pulled Rachel onto his lap.

"Oh, and if you say you've never done something and everyone else _has,_ then you normally have to do some sort of forfeit." Josh said as they got comfortable in their seat.

"What kind of forfeit?" Rachel asked as she smoothed out her navy, pleated skirt to cover her thighs.

"It's normally a shot or you might have to down your drink. It's nothing serious, don't worry."

Rachel felt her nerves flutter slightly. She still wasn't very experienced at handling herself in large social gatherings and the idea of getting drunk was making her feel excited.

Josh's friend Alex got proceedings underway by claiming he had never had a period which produced much laughter and taunting from the guys as Brittany, Santana and Rachel had to take a drink.

Josh was next and he used the glee club example that he'd said earlier and the three girls were forced to drink again. Rachel was glad that the width of _her_ two fingers was considerably less than that of Josh. She was nearly halfway through her drink already and there had only been two goes!

It was her turn next so she said her football one and took some satisfaction in watching the guys all drink.

By the time the first round was done, Rachel had a completely empty cup thanks to her being a member of the cheerios, having gotten an A in a test and kissed a guy.

Santana had finished her drink too and offered to get her another one so Rachel handed her cup over.

She could feel something slightly different now. There was a tingling behind her knees, as though she was extremely excited about something and there was a slight light-headedness too – as though things were slightly surreal. It was all quite exhilarating.

As the next round went by it seemed to be developing into a guys vs girls game but Rachel thought that she seemed to be getting caught out more often than others (She _had_ taken a tap class, she _had_ seen High School Musical (although it couldn't compare to anything on Broadway) and she _had _used a hair brush as a microphone) because she was the only one whose drink was completely gone that round again.

She didn't really mind though; she was having fun. For the first time in a week and a half she was able to forget about giving up the leads and just enjoy herself.

Josh brought a drink back for her and she tried to think of something she could get most of the guys to drink for.

Josh said that he'd never worn high heeled shoes and Rachel dutifully took a sip. She was getting used to it but hoped that the game didn't go on for too long otherwise she'd be absolutely full to the brim with vodka and lemonade.

It was her turn now and she hadn't thought of anything! An idea came to her and before she'd fully thought it through she said, "I have never thrown a slushie at someone."

About half of the guys started to lift drinks to their mouths before Santana cried, "Yes you have!" and burst into laughter.

Rachel clapped a hand over her mouth. Of course she's slushied someone; Noah. She'd completely forgotten about that!

The rest of the group started calling for her to do a forfeit and Rachel had to admit she probably deserved it.

"Just do a shot, baby" Josh said. "You've still got most of your drink left; you don't want to down all of that."

Rachel bit her lip nervously. "I've never done a shot before," she whispered to Josh, who didn't look particularly surprised.

"I'll do one with you if you like?" he replied and Rachel nodded.

A bottle of tequila was produced from somewhere and Rachel listened carefully to Josh as he explained that she needed to lick a bit of salt from the back of her hand, down the shot of tequila and then suck on the lemon wedge. She knelt next to the coffee table where the ingredients had been prepared. She placed a pinch of salt on her hand and looked closely at where the little shot glass of tequila and the lemon were so she could grab them quickly.

Josh kissed the side of her head. "Nothing to worry about, babe," he said before getting his own salt ready.

"Three, two," chanted the rest of the group, "one, go!"

Rachel licked the salt off the back of her hand and frowned slightly at the taste before grabbing the shot glass and pouring the contents down her throat. It burned as it went down and she screwed her face up in response and reached out for lemon. The group around them cheered as she sucked on it and the unpleasant taste of the tequila was replaced by the tang of the lemon.

Josh grinned at her with the lemon still in his mouth like a bright yellow set of teeth and she burst into giggles that didn't want to subside. Josh helped her stumble back to their seat but not even the sight of Noah watching their group with a frown could dampen her spirits now.

The rest of the round passed by a bit hazily and Rachel was not surprised to find that her cup was empty again. When Brittany came back she told Rachel that all the vodka was gone and that she'd poured out a wine cooler for her instead.

"Are you sure you want this, Rachel?" Josh asked her. "You shouldn't really mix your drinks, especially if it's your first time."

"I'll fe bine," she said, a slight slur to her voice. Josh raised an eyebrow at her jumbled words and she corrected herself. "I'll be _fine_." She said and took a sip of the wine to prove her point.

When her next turn came around she knew she had an 'I have never' that would get _all_ the guys. She waited until all eyes were on her before she said, "I have never kissed a girl."

All the guys started to drink but when Santana and Brittany started to as well, Rachel's mouth dropped open in shock. As everyone realised what this meant, a ring of cheers went round the group; Rachel was the only one who had not kissed a girl.

She buried her face in Josh's neck as the calls of forfeit rang out but she knew she had to carry out the consequences of the game.

"I call for a special forfeit," said Alex. "She should kiss one of the girls!" A round of cheers followed the suggestion. "As long as you don't mind your girlfriend kissing someone else," Alex said to Josh.

"I don't mind, if Rachel doesn't mind." Josh said and Rachel detached herself from his neck.

"Why would I mind?" she asked. "Kissing a girl doesn't bother me, I have two gay Daddies, you know." She always got defensive when people started suggesting that something was wrong with homosexual couplings and it seemed that the alcohol was increasing the feeling.

"I know," Josh said, trying not to smile at her change in behaviour.

"There's nothing wrong with two girls kissing!" She announced loudly to the rest of the group, which was unsurprisingly met with cheers. "I'll do your forfeit," she said to Alex, "and I'll do a shot too!"

This was met with more cheers and Josh looked at her in surprise. "Rachel, you don't have to," he began but she cut him off.

"I know, I want to." She kissed him briefly on the lips before practically falling on the floor to make her way to the coffee table to do her shot. She didn't even wait for the crowd to count her down before doing her shot and the lemon was barely out of her mouth before she had pressed her lips gently against Brittany's.

The cheers and catcalls were nearly deafening as Rachel moved her mouth against Brittany's. After a few seconds Rachel pulled away and moved over to kiss Santana as well. There was a moment of shocked silence but then the cheers started all over again.

Rachel had just parted her lips to allow Santana's tongue to enter her mouth when she felt someone tugging at her shoulder.

"Ok, that's enough," Rachel heard Josh say and she broke away from Santana's embrace. The rest of the group jeered Josh's intrusion in the matter but he ignored them as he led her back to their seat.

"You're the sexiest girl I've ever met," Josh told her as he pulled her back down into his lap. She giggled and they exchanged a few kisses before the game started up again.

The rest of the round passed in a complete blur for Rachel as the alcohol firmly took hold of her senses. The next thing she knew, the game had broken up and her wine was all gone.

"I need to go to the bathroom," she told Josh in a whisper that seemed to carry to everyone in the room.

"Ooh, I need to go too!" Brittany said. "We can go together."

Brittany pulled Rachel to her feet but Rachel was so disorientated by the sudden movement that they nearly fell over. The girls giggled as they staggered around trying to make their way out of the group. Josh decided to take pity on Brittany and got up to give her a hand in steadying Rachel.

"Josh!" Rachel yelled happily upon seeing him, as though she'd had no idea he was at this party.

With Josh's help they eventually managed to get to the upstairs bathroom as the one downstairs had a really long queue.

"Um, maybe I should go in with her," Brittany suggested to Josh as Rachel started to sing the chorus of 'I Kissed a Girl' to herself and then burst into giggles. Josh agreed and five minutes later his drunken girlfriend was returned to him.

"Josh!" Rachel cried again and wrapped her arms around him.

"Why don't you two go on," Brittany suggested. "I'll be down in a minute."

Rachel tried to tell Josh that, while she had quite liked kissing Brittany and Santana, she enjoyed kissing him more. However, what came out of her mouth was, "Don likiss Britanna bet you."

Josh laughed. "You're such a hilarious little drunkard."

Rachel flashed him a smile before kissing him on the lips. She ran a hand through his hair and fisted his t-shirt in her other one. Josh deepened the kiss and she moaned. She felt like she was on fire but she wasn't getting enough from him, she needed more.

Something was pressing against her back and she realised it was a door handle. She broke herself free from the kiss and opened the door that was behind her. It was a bedroom. Perfect. It wasn't as though she was going to sleep with him or anything but it offered them some privacy and more comfortable surroundings.

The two of them laughed and stumbled their way over to the bed and then resumed their previous activity.

Rachel had no idea how long they were making out for – her head was so fuzzy and everything just felt like an incredible blur.

Josh moved his hand so that it was touching her breast over her blouse. She didn't feel entirely comfortable with that so she pushed his hand away and said, "No, Josh."

Josh pulled away from her and she hoped he wasn't mad at her. He didn't look angry.

"I just want to try something," he said, brushing some of her hair away from her eyes. "You'll like it, babe, don't worry." He kissed her gently and she relaxed. She was sure Josh wouldn't hurt her.

Everything seemed to go back to the way it was before but then she felt his hand on the bare skin of her upper thigh and she jumped. She tried to force his hand away but her efforts were fruitless.

"N-no, Josh, I don't," she started but he cut her off with a kiss.

"Relax, babe. Trust me, you'll like it." He told her calmly.

Rachel did trust him but she just didn't feel ready for him to be touching her anywhere intimate.

"No, Josh," she said and tried to push his hand away again.

Josh let out a sound of frustration and Rachel suddenly found that her hands were pinned above her head with just one of his. She struggled against his hold and he bit into the soft skin just above her collar bone making her cry out loud.

She continued to struggle against him but she knew it was pointless because he had her body completely covered and he was so much stronger than she was.

Josh looked genuinely confused by her actions. "Stop struggling, Rachel, I'm not going to hurt you."

She felt Josh's free hand play with the waist of her panties and she opened her mouth to scream but Josh covered her mouth with his, effectively silencing her.

Tears leaked out of the corner of her eyes.

She couldn't believe Josh was doing this to her. He wouldn't. He wouldn't do it. Any second now he'd realise that this was wrong and he'd stop, she told herself. Any second now…

* * *

A/N: Cliff-hanger, anyone?

Love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXx


	12. Crossing a Line

Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

A/N Just over a week later, that's not too bad right?

Lots of love to my reviewers/favouriters/alerters!

Let's get straight on with it because I know you're anxious to know what happens next! : )

Chapter 12: Crossing a Line

* * *

When Brittany came back from the bathroom on her own, Puck began to get worried. Berry had been completely fucked off her face when he'd seen her get dragged off to the bathroom. Her eyes had been all glazed and she'd had difficulty keeping them open. Everyone else in their group was pretty drunk too so they just thought she was fucking hilarious stumbling all over the place and saying things that didn't make sense.

He'd been watching them play their game all night and he was sure that they'd been picking on Berry the whole way through. He doubted there was anything sinister to it; they just wanted to see the prim and proper Rachel Berry get pissed. She hadn't helped herself with those forfeits but she'd probably been too far gone by that point anyway. (He wasn't going to complain about the sight of her necking that shot and then making out with Brittany and Santana though because that was fucking hot as hell).

He waited a few minutes because Berry and Josh might've gotten side tracked talking to other people but when they didn't appear he went over to Brittany.

"Hi, Puck," she greeted. "Wanna make out?"

Puck shook his head. "Thanks for the offer, Brit, but I'm looking for Berry. Have you seen her?"

"I thought that Josh was going to bring her back down here. Maybe they got lost; Rachel is very drunk. She's a good kisser though." Brittany told him and Puck couldn't argue with her there.

"Wait, did you say 'down' here. Did you go to the bathroom upstairs?" Puck asked, as something twisted in his stomach.

"Yeah, the one downstairs was too busy." She replied.

"Thanks, Brit, I'll see you later," Puck said and made his way up the staircase. He had a feeling he knew where Josh and Berry were.

He paused on the top step. And so what if they were in one of the bedrooms? Rachel could have sex with Josh if she wanted to. But if she was as pissed as he thought she was then she wasn't really capable of making choices for herself at the moment, right?

He was deliberating whether to go looking in the rooms for her when he heard her cry out. It was difficult for him to be sure it was her when there was so much background noise but it was enough for him to make up his mind. It could've been a pleasurable cry but he didn't think so and quite honestly, he wasn't prepared to take that risk. He took that last step and looked at his surroundings.

There were a number of rooms in this part of the house and he didn't know which one her voice had come from. The first two rooms he tried were empty but behind the third door he found what he was looking for.

Honestly? He thought he'd prefer to see them fucking.

He took the scene in in a split second; Josh had covered Berry's body with his own, one of his hands was under her skirt and the other was holding her arms above her head. A look of terror was evident on her face and her eyes were shining with tears.

Josh scrambled off the bed but he wasn't quick enough to avoid Puck's fist in his face. There was a cracking noise and Josh fell to the floor with a yell. Puck was pretty sure that he'd broken Josh's nose but he couldn't give a fuck right now. He didn't think he'd ever been so furious in his life.

He was about to kick Josh in the ribs, regardless of the consequences, when Berry flung herself at him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and started sobbing hysterically into his chest.

"You'd better get the fuck out of here," Puck growled at Josh who was holding a hand to his nose to stem a flow of blood. Josh glared at him but picked himself up from the floor and left without another word.

Puck turned his attention back to the girl that was drenching his shirt with tears. "Shh, Berry, it's okay. He's gone." He said and gently stroked her hair to try and get her to calm down. "Nothing's going to happen to you, I'm here."

She continued to sob for a couple of minutes and then suddenly stopped. He looked down at her in concern.

"I'm going to be sick," she whispered and Puck looked around in panic. As concerned as he was for her, he really didn't want Berry throwing up all over him. He spotted an open door in the room and carried her towards it. He was very relieved to discover that it housed a toilet and a sink. He placed Berry in front of the toilet and had just swept her hair back from her face when she started heaving.

He spotted a cup sitting on the sink and filled it with water while he kept a hand on her hair. When it seemed that she had stopped spewing her guts out he passed it to her.

"Thanks," she said, hoarsely. He figured he could let go of her hair now and he had a rummage in the shelves next to the sink and found a toothbrush and some minty toothpaste. He showed them to her and she frowned. "They're not mine," she said, her drunken slur still very evident.

"I know, Berry, but we can chuck the brush out when you're done with it. Do you want to get rid of the taste or not?"

She took the brush and paste from him and he helped her stand up in front of the sink because she was still ridiculously unsteady on her feet, even when she kicked her heels off.

Puck could hear her sniffing as she brushed her teeth and he saw a couple of tears drop into the basin. The fury returned to him along with a feeling of hopelessness because he didn't know what to do to make Berry feel better. He considered going to get Brittany and Santana but he believed they'd be more of a hindrance than a help given how drunk they were too.

He realised that Berry had finished and he filled up the glass of water again. "You're going to need to keep drinking this. We need to sober you up," he told her and she nodded before taking a small sip.

And now what was he supposed to do? What could he possibly do or say to make her feel any better after what she'd been through?

She started shaking quite a bit so he steered her back into the main bedroom and tugged the comforter off the bed and wrapped it round her. Then he sat them both down on the floor so that there wasn't a risk of her falling over.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Puck knew this wasn't a very good idea because she'd probably just be repeating the events over and over in her head but he was completely out of alternatives.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you." She mumbled and Puck frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"You tried to warn me about Josh and I didn't want to believe you."

"Hey, you have nothing to be sorry about, Berry," Puck said forcefully. "It's all that bastard's fault. Don't worry, I'll make him pay."

"No, Noah, just leave it. He didn't, nothing really,…you got here in time. It's all so embarrassing, I just want to forget it."

Puck was relieved that this incident wasn't as serious as it first seemed and he was so glad that he had gone looking for her.

They could probably get Josh done for some sort of assault though, couldn't they? Or would Berry's drunken state work against her? He didn't know but it was definitely something worth investigating.

There was some more silence as she took some small sips from the water but then the tears started to fall again.

"I think God is punishing me for being a bad person," she choked out through her tears and Puck's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"That's a complete load of shit, Berry." He told her. "You're one of the nicest people I know."

"I – I'm bossy, and selfish and I said rude things about Quinn behind her back. I was _horrible_ to you in your dares. I kissed Finn even though he has a girlfriend and I got Mr Ryerson fired!"

"Well, good." Puck said, enthusiastically. "That perv should not be allowed near teenaged boys. And you were behind a kissing booth – Finn paid you to kiss him so there's nothing wrong with that."

Berry closed her eyes and shook her head. "I kissed him before that. Once at the beginning of the year and then again when he took me bowling to make me come back to glee club."

So he wasn't Rachel Berry's first kiss after all. He thought that part of him would be mildly annoyed about that revelation, but it wasn't, because given what she had been through tonight it really wasn't at all important anymore.

"Berry, come on, I've slept with women who are married and bullied dozens of people. If anyone should be getting punished it's me." She didn't look very convinced by his argument though so he reached out for her hand (which was like freaking ice!) and made sure she was looking at him. "Hey, don't you dare let what just happened change who you are. You're gutsy, determined, intelligent and passionate. Not to mention, you're a _total_ badass."

She let out a small laugh and hugged him again but more gently this time. "Thank you, Noah."

As he repeated the gesture by wrapping his arms around her too, he felt his spirits rise. He knew it would take a while for her to get over what Josh did but at least this was a start.

He felt a shudder run through her body and he looked down at her in concern. "Come on, Berry. He's not worth getting upset over." But when he actually saw the expression on her face he realised that she didn't look sad. She looked kinda pissed off.

"I'm not upset," she muttered as she removed herself from his embrace (nearly tipping over in the process). She wrapped her arms around herself and glowered into the darkness of the room. "I'm just mad at myself for letting him take advantage of me that way. If you hadn't come along…" She trailed off and shuddered again.

"Well, first thing tomorrow you can sign up for one of those self-defence classes. Then you can kick his ass for yourself."

Her alcohol-affected eyes tried to focus on him in the gloom of the room. "You're good at beating people up aren't you?" She asked bluntly.

He shrugged. "I can look after myself."

"Then maybe _you_ could teach me self-defence?" Her expression was hopeful and Puck pondered the suggestion. Yeah, so he was pretty good at throwing punches and making sure he didn't get too much on the reverse but he and Berry were totally different physically. He didn't think what he knew was really relevant to her defending herself because she was a skinny midget that weighed less than his leg. But it couldn't hurt to pass on any tips and he could look some stuff up for her, like techniques and shit. And to be honest, it would make him more at ease to know that she knew some of this defence stuff.

"Yeah, I suppose." He supplied.

"Good," she said and then appeared to be trying to get to her feet.

"What are you doing?" he asked in surprise.

"You said you'd teach me," she said slowly as though he was stupid.

He laughed. "You can't be serious. You want me to teach you now?"

"Why not? 'S'no time like the present."

"Because you can't even fucking stand up straight!" He exclaimed as he watched her still struggle to her feet. "You're still too drunk, Berry."

She finally managed to stand upright but she clung to the bedpost for support and she frowned at him.

"C'mon Noah, I wanna learn!"

He stood up. "If you can walk from here to the sink and back without falling over then I'll teach you." He said but he knew she wouldn't be able to manage it. Even though she had thrown up and had a shocking experience it was nowhere near enough to sober her up. She'd had a lot to drink in a short amount of time and mixed her drinks quite badly.

She turned slowly in the direction of the sink and took a couple of teetering steps before falling to the side. Puck reached out and caught her and she started laughing hysterically.

Her mood swings were worrying him slightly; in the last few minutes she'd gone from hysterical sobbing, fear that God was punishing her, anger at her inability to look after herself and now giggling because she was too drunk to walk in a straight line. He wasn't sure whether her weird behaviour was due to her drunkenness or if it was a reaction to what had happened or a combination of both. But having her laughing was better than her crying, right?

"See, I told you, Berry; you're too drunk."

"Noooo," she said, forcing herself to her feet to lean against the bed post again. "It doesn't matter. Come on, I'm a good student. I'll make sure I listen to your instructions, Mr Puckerman."

She laughed again and Puck had to shake his head at how pathetically hilarious she was when she was this drunk. Under different circumstances he'd probably laugh openly but it just didn't seem right tonight.

"No, Berry." He said and she huffed.

"You afraid you're gonna get beaten up by a girl, Mr Puckerman?"

"No, that you're gonna fall over and give yourself a concussion."

She changed her position so that she could lean against the post and free up her arms. She clenched her hands into fists and pretended to punch him in the stomach a little. "Come on, Noah, don't be such a chicken!"

He rolled his eyes at her lame punches. "Here," he said and took one of her hands and moved her fingers slightly. "Your hand should be like this otherwise you're gonna break your thumb." She grinned at him and let him remould her other hand too.

She punched at his stomach again and there was a little bit more force to them this time but it was still a bit like being whacked with a pillow. "Ow," he deadpanned.

This seemed to offend her because she suddenly punched him with all her strength, which he was totally not expecting and he was slightly winded. The momentum of her punch made Berry fall into him and he wasn't steady enough himself so they both ended up falling to the ground. Puck banged his head on the floor and Berry practically landed on top of him. She stared at him in shock before bursting out laughing and this time he joined in with her.

"I win!" she cried between laughs, holding her arms aloft. She rolled off of him with a soft, "Oof," so that she that she was lying on her back next to him. "You got beat up by a girl!" she said gleefully, as she gave him a soft punch on the arm.

He turned on his side to face her. "You fell on me, Berry, so I don't think that really counts."

"First time's always the hardest to admit," she slurred, laughing at the ceiling.

"Yeah, but it's not the first time I've got beaten up by a girl, is it Berry?"

Her forehead creased in utter confusion as she tried to work out what he meant. He couldn't deny that she looked totally cute at that moment despite how messed up her make up had become due to her tears.

"Oh," she said, as she obviously recalled her slapping of him and her face fell. "You know I'm really sorry about that don't you, Noah?"

_Fuck._ There were tears starting to form in her eyes yet again and he mentally kicked himself for making her upset. "Of course I know that, Berry. It was nothing, I was only joking with you."

But his words didn't seem to make any difference.

"See! I'm a horrible person!" She cried as a couple of tears escaped out of the corners of her eyes.

"No, don't start that again," he soothed as he pulled her against him, which was a bit difficult when they were both on the floor. She hiccupped against his neck and he felt it impact throughout her body, right down to her icy toes that were resting against the shins of his jeans. "What do I have to do to convince you that you're probably the best damn person at this party?"

She craned her head back slightly to look him in the eye. "You really think that?" She asked, before hiccupping again.

He smiled. "Yeah, babe, you're number one."

She was still staring into his eyes and it was freaking him out a little, but in a good way. He became aware of just how close their bodies were right now. He felt like he could feel every line of the front of her body as she leaned into him and her toes had snuck between his legs to try and get warm. Every breath she took tickled his cheek and pressed her chest into his.

He felt a little annoyed with himself because, even though he should be thinking about getting her safely back home and away from this place, all he wanted to do was kiss her.

So, when her lips touched his, he thought the knock to his head had caused him to hallucinate.

But when he felt her hand grip at the sleeve of his top he realised that this was no fucking daydream.

He jerked his head back in shock and blinked a couple of times to clear his mind because it seemed that Rachel Berry had just kissed him!

Her big brown eyes were still looking at him but her expression was unreadable. "Kiss me," she whispered and he started to question his sanity because this should definitely not be happening right now.

"W-what?" he spluttered.

"Kiss me, Noah," she whispered again, almost desperately.

"I don't think that's a good idea Berry," he replied, leaving it unsaid _why_ in case it upset her again.

"Come on, Noah. I _dare_ you," she breathed, a slight smile to her lips. He was finding it really hard to resist her and now regretted that they were so close together but he couldn't make himself push her away.

"I thought that was against the rules," he said, trying not to lose his head in the situation. Every tiny little movement she made was sending chills through his body and it was driving him insane.

She let out a throaty chuckle and he actually shivered. "As if breaking the rules has ever bothered you before, you badass mother f – "

His resolve broke and he covered his lips over hers hungrily. Berry saying those words was possibly the _sexiest_ thing he had ever heard. He'd never heard her say 'fuck' and he kinda liked that she hadn't, he liked her innocence. Just knowing that she had been about to say it was enough for him to crack.

His body and mind screamed, _yes_, at finally getting a taste of what they had been craving since the kissing booth as he tried to inhale as much of her as he could.

* * *

Rachel rolled over in her sleep, vaguely aware that something wasn't right with her. Her whole body seemed to weigh twice as normal, her heart was beating ridiculously fast and she felt extremely thirsty. She felt quite hot too so she moved her leg so that it would be out from under her duvet and it came in contact with a cold wall.

Her eyes flew open because _her_ bed was in the _middle_ of her room. Therefore, this was not her bed.

She sat up quickly but immediately wished that she hadn't as her stomach and her head rolled. She held a hand to her head and groaned at the uncomfortable feelings. When both of those things had settled slightly she forced herself to look around at her surroundings.

She couldn't make much out because there was little light coming through the curtained windows. It seemed like a modest room with little furniture apart from the bed. Rachel was quite at a loss as to where she was or how she had managed to get there. The memory loss, coupled with her throbbing head and unsettled stomach, led her to the conclusion that she was suffering from a hangover. It wasn't a pleasant revelation.

Head still in her hand, she forced herself to think back on what had happened last night.

She remembered being at Kaylee Briars' party. Santana had made her a drink of vodka and lemonade and then she'd been talking to some other cheerios about the new routine Coach Sylvester was creating for them . After that, she'd gone to refill her drink and met Noah. Her head gave a particularly nasty throb as she remembered that Quinn now knew about their dares. However, she was going to treat this as a minor problem until she figured out just where on earth she was.

She concentrated again and remembered that she'd started playing that ridiculous 'I have never' game with Josh and his friends. She knew that she'd had to take a shot of tequila for some reason, but after that? Nothing.

It was incredibly frustrating.

She recalled that she was supposed to stay around Brittany's after the party but she knew she wasn't in a room in the blonde cheerleader's house. She'd stayed round there before and none of the rooms were as small as this.

So where was she?

She could be at Santana's or Josh's house because she didn't know those as intimately as she knew Brittany's.

Rachel reasoned that the only way she was likely to find out was if she had a look around.

She carefully manoeuvred herself out of the bed and looking down at herself, realised that she was still wearing the same clothes from the night before. She wasn't sure whether this was a good thing or not. She had to brace herself against the bed as she got to her feet because she felt slightly disorientated. She waited a second for the dizziness to surpass before taking a couple of teetering steps towards the door.

A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she turned sharply towards it. But it was only her dark reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall above a chest of drawers.

She walked towards the drawers though, because it looked like there was a photo frame sitting on top. It was too dark to make out the people it showed so she flicked the light switch and gasped.

It was a photo of Noah and Sarah.

What on earth was she doing at Noah's house? She thought was still mad at him after the dare, wasn't she? She picked the frame up for a closer look but it was definitely the Puckerman siblings.

She glanced up at the mirror as she put the photo frame back in its place and she nearly dropped it in shock at the sight of herself.

She looked _awful._

Her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in weeks, the make up around her eyes was all smudged and had run down her cheeks. She traced the smudges down her face with her fingers. _These must be the tracks of my tears, _she thought, but she couldn't remember why she'd been crying.

Her hands fell to her sides and this freed up the sight of her neck and upper chest. Her eyes focused on a dark mark on her skin, just above her collarbone. She peered closely at it and then suddenly the sensation of Josh biting at her flesh burned through her mind, followed by a rapid rush of other memories that flowed too fast for her to make sense of.

Trembling, she backed away from the mirror and sank back onto the bed. She forced herself to take a deep breath and tried to think the memories through slowly.

Josh had been holding her down against her will when he'd bitten her. She glanced down at her wrists and she could see that they'd begun to turn a faint blue colour and they were sore if she pressed at them. Even though the evidence was right there before her eyes, she was still finding it difficult to believe that Josh had done that to her.

He'd always been so perfectly well behaved towards her (well, apart from the previous bullying offences, of course) and she honestly thought that he'd never do anything to hurt her. He hadn't pressured her to do anything that she wasn't comfortable with until last night.

She remembered that it had been she who had kissed him and opened the door to lead him into the bedroom. Had she given him the wrong impression? _She'd_ known that she wasn't going to sleep with him or do anything really beyond making out but _he_ didn't. Or maybe she'd been too drunk to actually tell him that she wanted him to stop?

She shook her head. No. She remembered telling him to stop and if he hadn't understood then he wouldn't have had to use force, would he? And seeing as she _had_ said 'no', he should've respected that no matter what expectations he'd had. No meant _no_.

Rachel wrapped the duvet around her to try and stop herself from shaking.

She concentrated very hard on trying to remember exactly what Josh had done to her, even though it made her feel sick and her skin crawl. His hand had been on the top of her thigh and then it'd been around the waistband of her panties. And then?

Then there'd been Noah.

She could see him clearly now; standing in the doorway with the light from the corridor surrounding him, like some ironic knight in shining armour. She'd never been more relieved and pleased to see him.

She realised now, just how lucky she was to have Noah arrive at that moment. How he knew they were there, she wasn't sure, but she would be eternally grateful to him. If he hadn't opened that door…she shuddered at the thought. Would Josh have raped her? It sounded so impossible when she tried to match it up with the Josh that had been her boyfriend for the last two weeks. She really hadn't known him at all.

What an idiot she'd made of herself; flaunting her relationship with Josh in Noah's face after he'd tried to warn her about him. She was so embarrassed of the way she'd acted over the past couple of weeks and she buried her face in her knees to try and rid herself of the shame.

She turned her thoughts back to last night but things were a little blurry for a while after that. She knew Josh had gone and then…had she been sick? She had a vague recollection of kneeling next to a toilet so she probably was.

And then she and Noah talked for a bit. The conversation topics were slightly fuzzy but she could remember spilling out all the horrible things she'd done and how Noah had reassured her that she was a nice person after all.

She screwed her face up in confusion as she recalled herself punching at him. Why had she done that? Oh, yes, self-defence lessons. She cringed at how she'd been all over the place and then made him fall over. He must have thought she was a complete _idiot_.

So, they'd been lying in the floor, and, _oh God,_ Rachel hoped that what she was remembering hadn't really happened. But no, apparently, she'd kissed him.

She full on hid under the duvet cover at this admission. What had she been thinking?

Fighting against the pain in her head, she forced herself to think about her motives behind the kiss and her _daring _him to kiss her back.

She tried to place herself back on that floor. He was holding her close to him and she was staring into his eyes. The words, _Yeah, babe, you're number one,_ echoed through her mind, making her shiver. He'd been her saviour, her protector and her carer that night. And even though she'd been staring into Noah's eyes, all she could feel was Josh. Josh's hand on her thigh, Josh's breath on her cheek and Josh's lips against hers. She'd wanted to erase him from her body; she didn't want his taint to be on her anymore. So she'd used Noah to try and replace him.

And it had worked, in a way. When she'd been kissing Noah she was able to forget about Josh but it hadn't gotten rid of the taint. She could still feel it, even now.

She hadn't been the one to stop things though. Noah had pulled away from her and sat up, leaving her alone on the floor. He'd said something like, 'he couldn't do that with her' and she'd burned with the humiliation of rejection, as she did now. Of course he wouldn't want to kiss her; his reputation may have suffered but she was still the loser Rachel Berry that he liked to throw slushies at and ridicule. He must think she was so pathetic, _daring_ him to kiss her. Eugh, she _was_ pathetic.

A couple of tears trickled down her cheeks, no doubt making her appearance even worse (if that was actually possible).

She'd tried to leave after that, practically crawling towards the door but he'd stopped her and offered to take her anywhere she wanted to go seeing as he had a car and had only consumed one beer.

She was supposed to stay round Brittany's, but Rachel didn't want anyone else to know what had happened. She hadn't wanted her parents to see her in her drunken state which had ruled out going home.

When she'd said she didn't know where she wanted to go, he'd told her to come back to his. She'd been against the idea because she was frankly too embarrassed to even look at him but he was quite adamant about it.

They'd managed to sneak out of the party without anyone really noticing and once Noah had made sure she was secured in his truck, he briefly went in to tell Brittany he was taking her home.

She couldn't remember the journey back or arriving at Noah's house so she assumed she'd fallen asleep.

And now, here she was; a hungover, filthy, _mess_.

Rachel didn't really have many regrets about the way she lived her life. But _how_ she wished she could take back pretty much everything about last night; the drinking, opening that bedroom door, kissing Noah. She wished she could forget it all happened.

But it had.

And right now, she wanted nothing more than to wash Josh Hutchinson off of her skin. It felt like a poison, infecting her body, choking her. She needed to get home as soon as possible.

The clock in the room said it was 7:30 in the morning. Her Dads would be leaving for work soon, which meant that it would be clear for her to go home without them seeing her in this state.

She had a couple of options available to her; she could wake for Noah to wake up and request that he give her a lift back or she could walk.

She was sure that it was very cold outside and she didn't have an awful lot of clothes on so she didn't particularly want to walk but the alternative would be facing Noah after the humiliation of last night.

She was going to walk.

It had only taken her a few minutes to drive here from home so at least it wouldn't take too long to walk.

She emerged from under the security of the duvet and looked around for her shoes and her purse. After locating both, she wiped around her eyes with a tissue, to try and make her appearance look a little better and she wouldn't look like a complete tramp on the streets of Lima (even if she felt like one).

She opened the door as quietly as she could and sneaked down the stairs (shoes in hand), cringing as one of them creaked beneath her feet.

Her head ached and she was still incredibly thirsty. If she was going to walk a couple of miles in the cold and damn, rain, then she'd probably better have some water before she went.

She tiptoed into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She took large sips, so she didn't drink it too quickly and tried not to feel too guilty about leaving without saying goodbye or even thanking Noah.

She would leave him a note, it was the least she could do. There was a notepad and pen by the telephone so she walked over to it, thinking about what words she could possibly write but the sound of someone walking down the stairs made her pause.

A couple of seconds later, Mrs Puckerman appeared pulling on her jacket. She stopped short at seeing Rachel though. "Oh, good morning, Rachel, dear. I didn't expect you to be up this early."

Rachel's cheeks flushed. Hannah Puckerman didn't seem too shocked to see her here, which obviously meant that she saw her last night when she'd passed out after consuming too much alcohol. How mortifying.

"I, er, um," Rachel mumbled, not sure what to say.

"Is Noah taking you back already? That's early for him – he doesn't normally come out of his room until midday on a weekend." Mrs Puckerman must've been totally oblivious to Rachel's discomfort or she chose to ignore it, as she poured herself a glass of orange juice.

"No, he's not awake yet, as far as I know," Rachel replied. "I was going to walk."

Mrs Puckerman's eyebrows rose as she drank some juice. "Are you crazy, child? It's pouring down outside!"

Rachel shrugged. "I need to go home and take a shower."

"Honey, you can have a shower here." Mrs Puckerman said waving her hand in the general direction of the bathroom. This time, she _did_ notice Rachel's embarrassment though because she quickly added, "But that would be completely strange and awkward for you."

Rachel tried to protest that she didn't feel awkward in the Puckerman household (even though she _did_) but Mrs Puckerman shushed her. "Come on, I'll give you a lift on my way to work."

"That's very kind of you, Hannah, thank you." Rachel didn't feel like putting in a protest this time because she _really_ wanted this lift. It would be awkward, yes, but not as bad as if it was Noah driving her.

"Don't mention it, sweetie." Mrs Puckerman said as she grabbed her keys off the counter and walked towards the front door. "Let's go," she called and Rachel hurried to keep up with her. She slipped her shoes on at the front door and Mrs Puckerman threw a jumper at her. "Here, wear this, otherwise you'll catch pneumonia just walking to the car." Rachel obliged, even though the red, hooded jumper was huge on her and walked quickly (but carefully) after Mrs Puckerman, into the car.

Neither woman was too awake to make proper conversation and Rachel had to give Mrs Puckerman instructions as to how to get to her house anyway. Rachel was so glad that she didn't have to walk in the rain; she'd have certainly come down with a cold if she had.

Soon enough, they were back at her house and Rachel was relieved to see that her parents' cars were absent from the driveway.

"Thank you so much for the lift, Hannah, I really appreciate it." Rachel said, unbuckling her seat belt.

"That's okay, honey."

"And, um, can you say 'thank you' to Noah for last night? I was going to leave him a note."

"Yeah, no problem. You just take it easy today, okay?" Mrs Puckerman advised and Rachel blushed. "No need to be embarrassed, honey," she said, embarrassing Rachel further, " we were all young once. Maybe just go a bit easier on yourself next time, hmm?"

Rachel nodded and began to take off the jumper even though she was nice and warm in it. "Oh, honey, just give Noah his jumper back on Monday," Mrs Puckerman said and Rachel froze.

She should've known that this was his. It was much too big for Sarah or Mrs Puckerman. It shouldn't really unsettle her that she was wearing his jumper, but it made her feel uneasy for some reason.

"Oh, okay," she replied, trying not to cringe at the awkwardness in her voice. "Have a good day, Hannah."

"You too, sweetheart," Mrs Puckerman said as Rachel got out of the car and shut the door, before hurrying off to get inside.

Once the front door was safely shut behind her she leant against it and sank down to the floor, the tears falling from her eyes before she even knew they were there. She hid her face in the sleeves of Noah's jumper and tried to convince herself that everything was going to be okay.

* * *

A/N Gosh, why is my humour fic so angsty?

So, most of you called it, there was no way I was going to let Josh do anything too bad to Rachel! Luckily, I don't really know how someone reacts to nearly being raped when they're extremely intoxicated, so if that was ooc, I'm sorry.

Right, according to my plan there are only two chapters left but they are likely to be long ones so don't freak out if it takes longer for the next one to come out.

SO excited for new glee coming out next week (even if it's not actually being shown in the UK til January, I think, but there are ways around that…)

Anyway, let me know if you liked the chapter!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXx


	13. The Truth Will Out

Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

A/N I know, I'm shocked at how quickly this one's been written too. It's not as long as I thought it would be either. Weird.

Thank you for the reviews, alerts and favourites! I haven't responded to the previous chapter reviews yet but I will be doing that tonight, so don't worry!

* * *

Chapter 13 The Truth Will Out

Puck stared up and down the hallway of McKinley, his eyes keen to spot Berry in the crowd, but he couldn't see her little cheerio-ass anywhere. The warning bell was due to go in five minutes and unless she turned up soon then she was going to be late for class. But that was assuming she was even coming to school today. He could understand if she didn't want to but he'd be fucking shocked because she hadn't missed a day of school, like, ever. Not that he'd been paying particular attention to her attendance record; he just knew she was one of those goody-goodies that never missed school.

There was also the possibility that she'd gotten to school before he had and she was already in her class. He'd gotten here half an hour before he ever had before in the hopes of catching her but she still could've beaten him to it. If that was true then it would confirm his suspicions; Rachel Berry was avoiding him.

He'd been kinda worried when he'd woken up on Saturday morning to discover that she was gone. She hadn't left a note or shit so he figured that she must've just walked off. He felt pretty fucked off that she'd rather walk through the freezing rain than wait for him to wake up and give her a lift.

He wanted to call her to make sure that she was okay but he didn't have her fucking cell number. He sent texts to his friends asking them for her number but seeing that it was half eight in the morning, none of them were awake to give him a speedy reply.

He stared out as the rain hammered down onto the streets and then grabbed his keys, grabbed his sister who had just started watching some crap on TV and bungled her into the car. Sarah moaned and whinged at him because he'd made her pj's all wet and she wanted to have her breakfast but he just told her to 'shut the hell' up because he was trying to think.

Rachel couldn't have left _that_ long ago and if she was still out there in the rain then maybe he could give her a lift back home. All she had was that little outfit and those strappy heels. She would catch her fucking death if she was out there.

He started the car and pulled out of the drive before he realised that he didn't know where the fuck she lived. Sarah asked him where they were going and he responded by asking her whether she knew where Berry lived. She didn't, of course, so he was forced to just drive up and down the streets of Lima, looking for her. After twenty five minutes were up he decided to pack it in because not only was she probably back home by now, but Sarah's whinging was really starting to fuck him off.

Back at the house, he went on the internet and sent a message to Berry on Facebook (as well as adding her as a friend) asking her if she got home okay. He wasn't sure what else to put so he just left it at that and waited.

He checked his phone but there were no messages.

So he waited.

He was beginning to lose his fucking mind, worried that she'd frozen to death on a road that he hadn't gone down or been picked up by a weirdo on her way home. He tried to play on the Xbox to distract himself but he kept pausing his game every five minutes to check his cell and refresh his e-mail inbox even though there was nothing there.

By the time ten o'clock had rolled around he lost his patience and phoned Santana.

"The fuck, Puckerman? You ever heard of a lie-in?" Santana's voice grumbled on the other end of the line.

"I need Berry's number, Lopez." He said, cutting out the bullshit.

"Why?" she asked, clearly yawning.

"What does it matter?" he snapped. "I need it."

"Well, if you don't have it already, then maybe she doesn't want you to have it." Santana reasoned.

"Look, San, this is actually fucking important, so are you going to give me her fucking number or not?" he growled.

"Only if you tell me why it's so important." She responded snappily.

Puck called her an interfering bitch and hung up on her. He didn't need Santana's games right now. He would've tried Brittany next but he wasn't sure she knew how to answer a phone so he rang Mike. But his phone must've been switched off because it went straight to voicemail and the result was the same when he rang Matt. His cell beeped to show that he'd received a text message from Santana. He clicked on it, hoping that it would contain Berry's cell number but it simply said _Jackass_.

He moved on to Finn next and he was relieved when his friend picked up. "Hey, dude, what's up?" Finn asked sleepily.

"Not much, man. I was just wondering if you had Berry's cell number."

"Why?" Finn asked, a clear note of suspicion in his voice the Puck did not fucking appreciate. Why didn't any of his friends trust him with Berry's number? Okay, so as far as they were concerned he and Berry still hated each other but, come on, he hadn't been openly horrible to her in weeks.

"I need to ask her something about my history homework." Puck lied.

"Oh, okay." Finn replied and Puck breathed a sigh of relief because it seemed like he was _finally_ going to get Berry's number. "Wait? We had history homework?" Finn asked in a panicked voice.

Fuck. He'd forgotten that Finn was in his history class. "Errr, yeah. Mrs Purser asked us to write a thousand word summary on the battle of Gettysburg."

"Gettysburg? I thought we were doing about the war of independence?" Finn objected.

"Hey, dude, I don't set the homework, do I?" Puck retorted, to hide the fact that he was bullshitting on this Gettysburg thing.

"Oh, man, I so didn't hear Mrs Purser say that." Finn groaned.

"Yeah, whatever. So, dude, can I have Berry's number or not?"

"Oh, sure. It's saved on my phone. I'm not sure how to get it while I'm talking to you though." His voice got quieter as he took the phone away from his ear. "Maybe if I press –"

And then the line went dead.

Puck groaned and flopped back on his bed. Why did he have to have such _dumbass_ friends?

The only other person in glee club who's number he had was Quinn but Puck didn't even bother trying her because he knew she wouldn't have Berry's number. There was just no way.

His phone beeped again and he opened up a message from Finn which apologised for his dumbassery (Puck's word, not Finn's) but thank-fuck-fully it also contained the digits of Berry's cell number.

He dialled it in but was dismayed when it went straight to voicemail. He hung up before he was required to leave a message and he resisted the urge to throw his phone against the wall in frustration. Not knowing if Berry was okay was driving him crazy but now he was pretty much out of options.

It was definitely going to be a waiting game now, which totally sucked because he was one of the least patient people he knew.

While he waited for some sign that Berry was alive his thoughts turned to the previous evening. Or rather, how it ended.

He mentally kicked himself for giving in and kissing her. She totally hadn't been in the right frame of mind and he'd just, like, taken advantage of her guard being down. He'd made out with drunk girls before and it hadn't really bothered him, but knowing that Berry wasn't acting at all like herself (whether due to the alcohol or the shock, it didn't really matter) was enough for his conscience to kick in and tell him that it was fucking wrong. Wrong, because it would totally mess with her head and wrong for him too because if he ever got to kiss Rachel Berry again then it would be because they both wanted to – there was no alcohol or kissing booth involved.

Yes, he could admit it to himself; Rachel Berry was special. He didn't want her to be just another conquest and that was why he told her that he couldn't do that with her.

He wasn't convinced that the message had been translated to her very well though because she'd, like, completely shut up and wouldn't even look at him after that. But she'd fallen asleep pretty much as soon as he'd started his car so at least things hadn't been too awkward on the way back.

His mom had still been up when he'd carried Berry into the house, which he shouldn't have been so surprised about seeing as it was only just after eleven at this point. Luckily his mom hadn't really asked many questions and had helped him carry Berry into the guest room. She'd given him a look like she was all proud of him and shit for taking care of Berry and it didn't completely suck.

At midday his mom phoned home to remind him to feed Sarah, as if he'd fucking forget (again) an oh, she _just happened_ to mention that she'd dropped Berry back home on her way to work. Okay, so she didn't know that he'd been worrying about her the whole fucking morning, but still, she could've let him know a bit sooner.

His worry obviously lessened at that point because now he knew that she wasn't lying dead on a sidewalk somewhere. She didn't respond to his Facebook message though which was unlike her because she was always so damn polite. He hacked into Finn's Facebook account (and didn't even make the most of this by changing any personal information (i.e. sexual preference) or his status. He planned to do this at a later date, when he could be bothered. It was too good an opportunity to miss) to spy on her profile and he discovered that she hadn't responded to Santana or Brittany when they'd written on her 'wall'. Okay, so it seemed that she wasn't just avoiding him, but he didn't care. He needed to speak to her about Friday night.

The warning bell rang and Puck admitted momentary defeat by going off to class. He wished he knew what Berry's timetable was so that he could check in the actual classroom to see if she was there but he would have to make do with searching the corridors for her between classes.

Biology dragged slowly fucking by and once the bell rang he got out the class quick so he could look for Berry. The corridors were pretty packed with students but he spotted her a few yards away. He pushed people out of the way in order to get to her (ignoring their cries of protest) but he obviously wasn't quick enough because she seemed to have completely fucking disappeared! He turned his head in all directions but he couldn't see her anywhere.

Berry's disappearing act had already pissed him off and his mood wasn't improved by the sight of Santana Lopez blocking his way. She didn't look particularly happy either. Good. If he was fucked off, then everyone else should be too.

"So, are you going to tell me what the hell's going on?" Santana asked, hand on hip.

"What are you talking about?" he responded, puzzled.

"Ever since you woke me up Saturday rumours have been flying round about something happening between you, Rachel and Josh Hutchinson." Santana informed him which took him by surprise because he hadn't heard shit. He supposed that being the subject of the gossip meant that he was out of the loop.

"Oh, really?" he asked, trying to seem unconcerned.

"Yes, _really,_" she sneered, glaring at him. "A number of people saw Hutchinson leave the party with a fucked up face." And before he could stop her she reached out for his hands and her eyes narrowed as she caught sight of the bruises on the knuckles of his right hand. "I fucking knew it," she chuckled before pressing on the bruises, hard.

"Ow," he hissed, snatching his hands back. "Fucking bitch, what you do that for?"

She shrugged. "Why'd you punch him then?"

"None of your fucking business, Lopez." He snarled.

"This is about Rachel, isn't it?" She continued and Puck decided that the best course of action was for him to leave. It wasn't his place to tell what had gone down between Berry and Josh, especially not to Santana Lopez. But Santana followed him anyway. "Look, people are making up all sorts of crap and none of it's particularly nice. So, if you want to save Berry the pain of people talking shit about her I suggest you let me know what this is about so I can steer the gossip in the right direction."

Puck frowned at her as she continued to keep pace beside him. "What do you care about what people say about Berry? Wouldn't now be the perfect time to drop her like you said you would?"

"What can I say, the little singing freak's grown on me," Santana commented dryly. "She's not actually as much of a loser as I thought she was and besides, Brittany likes having her around." Puck scoffed at her lack of enthusiasm. "She's hasn't responded to me or Brittany _once _all weekend. People can't _drop_ me as friends," she told him fiercely but Puck thought she was hiding some sort of insecurity. "I choose to drop _them, _if I want to."

Puck rolled his eyes, hoping she'd get the message and just _fuck off _but she seemed to get tired of him not giving her what she wanted because she placed a hand on his chest to make him stop_._

"If you're not going to tell me, then maybe I should go ask Hutchinson."

Puck scowled at her. There was no fucking way that Josh would actually tell people the truth about what happened. He'd definitely twist things to make Puck look like the bad guy and probably try to incriminate Berry too. That was the last fucking thing that Berry needed and actually, it was totally unfair that Josh was getting away with what he did. The rest of the school should know what an evil bastard he was because Puck wouldn't always be there to save the day. As much as he wanted to protect Berry from any hurt she might experience from making the events of Friday night semi-public, he also knew that she'd never forgive herself if Josh hurt someone else because they hadn't been aware of what he was capable of.

Puck sighed and jerked his head to the side slightly and Santana caught his meaning by moving to the side of the corridor with him so that they were out of the stream of students. Santana looked at him expectantly and Puck wondered how best to phrase his words. "Hutchinson was having problems understanding English when he was with Berry on Friday night."

Santana raised her eyebrows at him "And that's supposed to mean…?"

"He had a particular difficulty with the word _no_." Puck let the sentence hang there, hoping that Santana had caught his meaning and judging by the way her face darkened, she had.

She muttered a few angry words in Spanish and Puck didn't need a translation to know that she was thinking very dark thoughts about Josh Hutchinson.

"Just leave it to me," Santana said darkly and then she was gone.

Puck was still unsure whether he'd done the right thing or not. Sure, it would've been better if he'd asked Berry's opinion first but seeing as she was avoiding him, there wasn't a lot he could do about that.

He was aware now of people whispering as he walked past and the way they looked away when he glanced in their direction (A clear sign that they were gossiping about him, the fuckers). But, whatever, if Santana did her job properly then they'd know why he'd punched their precious Josh Hutchinson and he wasn't ashamed to admit it.

He slumped into his seat, resigning himself to be bored to death in history now, but a punch to the arm caught him unawares. "There _was_ no summary on Gettysburg, you asshole," Finn said, glaring at him. "I wasted the whole of my Sunday doing that."

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that." Puck replied, not really meaning it. "I must've got confused."

Finn sighed, shaking his head as Mrs Purser got on with the shit-ass lesson.

As she droned on, Puck was definitely conscious of people glancing at him and he saw more than a couple of them stare at his bruised hand.

Finn didn't act any differently towards him at all though (despite being annoyed about the Gettysburg thing) and Puck thought that sometimes it was good to have an oblivious friend.

When the bell rang, Puck got out the classroom as quick as possible, just like last time. He spotted Berry in one of the corridors again and kept his eyes on her, determined not to lose her in the crowd again.

Their eyes met for a split second before Berry looked away and ducked into the girls' bathroom. Puck raised an eyebrow. If she thought that that would stop him then she was in for a fucking surprise. He walked over to the bathroom and pushed the door open.

Berry whirled around from where she'd been standing in front of a basin, looking scandalised. "Noah!" She cried. "You're not allowed in here!"

Puck had a quick glance round but it seemed like the room was empty apart from them, so he didn't know why she was being so pissy about it. "You've been avoiding me, Berry."

"No, I haven't." She replied weakly and he nodded.

"No, you've been avoiding everybody." He pointed out and then he realised what she was wearing. "Wait, where's your cheerios uniform?" he asked.

She glanced down at her high-necked and long sleeved sweater, coupled with her knee length skirt and pantyhose. "I quit."

"What? Why?" he asked, in shock.

She shrugged and looked at the floor. "I didn't belong there, Noah."

"Coach Sylvester didn't disembowel you then?" Puck joked, recalling the threat laid down if Berry turned out to be a spy for the glee club.

She half-smiled. "No, I threatened her with legal action should she attempt any retribution."

Puck nodded again. Now that he had her here, he wasn't really sure what he wanted to say to her. His mind had gone kinda blank and he just staring at her. She looked a bit tired but otherwise okay. He wondered if she was wearing the high necked sweater because of the cold or to cover up that bite mark that Josh had left on her skin (which he couldn't help to notice when he'd carried her up to bed on Friday).

But it seemed that if he wasn't going to talk, then Berry _was._

"Look, Noah, I've had time to reflect on our game and I've come to realise just how ridiculous it was. What Quinn said was completely true – our dares have had consequences for the people around us too and caused them to needlessly worry about us. We've been childish and selfish in carrying on with it. The whole lifestyle that I'd created for myself via those dares has caused me to lose sight of myself and…I got hurt."

His mind was reeling at what she was saying but he was determined to fight because he could feel her slipping away. "It was _him_ that hurt you, not the dares."

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter, Noah. Quinn knowing about the dares breaks one of our founding rules." She looked him dead in the eye and he couldn't breathe for a second. "It's over, Noah."

No, he wasn't ready for it to be over yet.

"And seeing as it was me who actually let slip what was going on between us that means that you win." She smiled tightly. "Congratulations. Now you can tell all your friends why you did those crazy things, you'll get your popularity back and things can go back to normal."

His shocked mind was only just able to realise that she was walking out of the room in time for him to grab her hand. "No, Berry, wait." She turned to look at him hesitantly. "I need to talk to you about Friday night. About…us."

A look of understanding settled on her face and her cheeks flushed red as she took her hand back from his grasp. "Oh, don't worry, Noah. I won't tell anyone about it." She said reassuringly.

"I don't fucking care who knows," he replied earnestly.

"Oh," she said, raising her eyebrows in surprise. "Well, actually, I'd appreciate it if you forgot about what happened between us."

Puck was at a crossroads in his life. It was a pretty fucking dramatic statement to make but he knew things in his life could be totally different one way or the other. He could risk his pride and (fucking damn it!) his heart and tell her how he felt or he could let her walk away and always wonder.

Yeah, so he hadn't really backed down from anything, ever, and he wasn't going to start now. Noah Puckerman was no scared fucking pussy.

"Berry, I'm not going to forget about what happened because I don't fucking want to." She flinched slightly at his cursing and she opened her mouth to say something but he carried on before she got a chance. "I can't stop _thinking_ about you, Berry, and it's driving me mad."

She stared at him like she thought he _was_ mad. "It was only a couple of kisses, Noah!" she exclaimed.

"No, I've been thinking this way for a few weeks now. I tried really fighting it of course, cause, you're _Rachel Berry_ and, you know, you're kinda crazy and you like musicals too much and you're not very popular and you were making me do shit in those dares –"

"I'm sorry that you liking me is _such_ an inconvenience to you, Noah," she hissed, glaring at him and he had a feeling that he'd fucked this up. "Believe it or not, I'm essentially okay with who I am, or who I _used_ to be, and I want to be with someone who actually _likes_ me for who I am."

"No, Berry –" He wanted to explain that none of that stuff bothered him in the slightest anymore and tell her that he _did_ like who she was.

"I don't want to delve in your sort of people anymore, Noah. I learnt my lesson from Josh."

"Hey! I'm _nothing_ like that piece of shit," he growled, getting angry. How could she compare him to Josh? "I'd _never_ do what he tried to do."

Her face softened slightly. "I know, Noah, but there are…similarities in your characters. A few months ago there was little to tell between you. You can still be a complete jerk sometimes and someone like that isn't for me."

Puck wanted to say something to defend himself but he could find no words.

"If I don't want to change who I am, then I don't expect you to change who you are and let your _reputation_ suffer."

And then she was gone.

That had gone pretty fucking awfully but no fucking way was he going to let her get away that easily.

* * *

Rachel moved through third and fourth period in a complete haze, unaware of the whispers and stares that followed her everywhere.

Her brain seemed to be functioning poorly, struck down by the absurd conversation that she'd shared with Noah Puckerman where he seemed to express that he liked her. Not a friendly sort of like, but a _like_ like.

It seemed most ridiculous because Noah liked pretty girls with little intelligence and older women who had no problem with having sex with underage boys. Not normal girls like _her._

And yet, why would he say those things? He didn't mean to trick her or make a fool out of her, she almost certain of that, judging by the way he'd cared for her on Friday evening. Maybe the way she'd behaved that night had induced a lust in him instead? She'd certainly acted atrociously in her skimpy little skirt, falling all over the place and daring him to kiss her. Yes, surely, it was just lust that had caused him to act this way.

And if it wasn't? Then someone needed to tell Noah that insulting a girl was not the best way to win her heart. She refused to think _that_ possibility through any further.

Rachel blinked as she realised that she had come to a stop in front of her locker. Where was she supposed to go next?

"Rachel."

She tensed. If anything was going to break her out of her current stupor it was that voice.

She turned to meet the eyes of Josh Hutchinson. She was quite pleased to see that he looked rather awful. Noah's punch had made his nose off-centre and the force of the break had caused bruising under both of his eyes.

Rachel knew that Josh wouldn't try anything here, the hallway was busy with people (many of them stopping to stare) but she couldn't help but feel very apprehensive with him standing so close to her. "What do you want?" she asked, a definite tremble to her voice.

"Rachel, I'm so sorry," Josh whispered urgently, "I don't know what came over me, I never wanted to hurt you, I _swear_."

And a part of her believed him. Thinking back to that night, he seemed genuinely confused about her request for him to stop. Perhaps he'd never had a girl turn down the chance to have a more intimate experience with him. Either way, it didn't excuse his actions.

"I don't know what you expect me to say." Rachel replied stonily.

Josh shook his head. "I dunno. Nothing, I suppose. I just need you to know that I'm sorry."

Rachel pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest. "Well, if you're really sorry then I suggest that you learn from this. You were actually lucky that Noah came in when he did before things went too far." She could tell that this comment annoyed him but it was true. "I'm sure suffering a broken nose is nothing compared to prison."

"Hey, fucktard! How about you get the hell away from her before I rip off your cock and shove it down your throat?" Santana spat as she pushed through the crowd to come and stand between Rachel and Josh.

"Santana, it's fine," Rachel said, quietly. "He's not doing anything."

"No, this little shit doesn't even get to _look_ at you, Rachel, let alone be within five feet of you." Santana said, glaring hostilely at Josh. It seemed that Josh suddenly became aware of how many people were watching them because his body language completely altered and an angry looked covered his face.

"Whatever, I don't know why I wasted my time on that drunken tease anyway." Josh sneered. "Maybe if she hadn't acted like an utter _whore_ on Friday, then none of this would've happened!"

Santana raised her hand to slap him but Rachel pushed her out of the way and kicked him in the groin as hard as she possibly could.

Josh immediately crumpled to the floor with a groan and the people around them gasped.

Santana looked at her, impressed. "Wow, Rachel, I didn't know you had it in you."

Rachel was quite surprised in herself too. Yes, she'd done something similar to Jacob a couple of weeks ago but that had been something instinctive and defensive to stop him from kissing her. This time though, she'd wanted to cause Josh pain. She'd probably kicked him a little bit too hard judging by the tears forming in her mind but she'd wanted revenge and she was tired of other people fighting her battles for her.

She'd been rather shocked at Josh's change in attitude. One minute he'd been all apologetic and ashamed and then he'd been aggressive and mean. Rachel assumed that he'd been trying to save face when he'd realised that everyone was going to know what had happened and he'd decided to try and pin the blame on her. He probably hadn't expected it to backfire on him so painfully.

"So, what are you doing for lunch?" Santana asked her, ignoring Josh who was still lying curled up on the floor.

"Oh, I don't know," Rachel replied, caught unawares by the change in topic.

"Good, you're coming to sit with me and Brittany," Santana told her, linking her arm through Rachel's and pulling her through the crowd.

"Thank you for standing up for me_,_" Rachel said as they made their way to the cafeteria. "How did you know?"

"About you saying no?" Rachel nodded. "Puck told me. He didn't want to but I thought it was best people knew the truth." Santana noticed that Rachel looked embarrassed. "It's nothing to go all shy about, Rachel. Look, as a general rule, I don't really say 'no' to guys but if I _did_ then I'd expect them to fucking respect that, even if I was drunk off my ass or half naked."

Rchel blushed even further. "I _wasn't_ half naked." She mumbled and Santana laughed.

"I hope that scumbag didn't freak you out into quiting the cheerios."

Rachel shook her head. "I just don't fit in there. Cheerleading isn't really my thing."

"And you think singing show tunes is mine? Or _Puck's_ for that matter? But we still go to glee club."

Rachel considered this. She _had_ kind of enjoyed being in the cheerios (when Coach Sylvester had actually let her join in) and as long as she kept sight of herself there wasn't a lot of harm in having a range of extra-curriculars. "I doubt Coach Sylvester will take me back again."

"Oh, I'm sure that we'll be able to find a way to convince her." Santana said and Rachel still found it odd that she was being so nice to her.

"I thought you'd have ditched me by now." Rachel said, surprised by her own nerve. "I'm not like you and Brittany in some ways. I don't like saying bad things about people and, and," her confidence died, worried that Santana was going to slap her or something.

"And you're a bit of a prude, I know." Santana said and Rachel was relieved to see that she didn't look insulted. "Look, as long as you don't try and convert me into a goody-goody argyle wearing geek, then you can be what you want. Besides, I wasn't going to ditch someone who's such a good kisser."

Rachel stumbled in shock at Santana's words. "What?" she asked.

Santana laughed, "God, you _were_ wasted on Friday weren't you?"

"I kissed you?"

"And Brittany." Rachel gaped at her. "I'm actually slightly offended that you don't remember," Santana said with a grin.

Rachel had an enjoyable lunch sitting with Brittany, Santana and a number of other cheerios. At the start of the day she'd wanted to draw no attention to herself and melt into the background, embarrassed about what had happened. But why should she hide away? She'd actually stood up for something that she'd believed in. Josh was the one who should be the social outcast, not her.

And now that they'd had their first meeting since that night Rachel felt that a lot of weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. And the dares were over now, too! She'd almost forgotten about that in the wake of her confrontation with Josh. She was free to be her own person again.

She looked around for Noah, expecting to see him with his bunch of usual glee and football friends but she couldn't spot him anywhere. She expected to see him telling them all about his victory in their game soon. She didn't mind losing their game on a technicality. It was much better than losing through lack of nerve.

The afternoon classes passed by rather breezily. She was still the subjects of stares and whispers but she had a feeling people were more impressed that she'd stuck it to Josh Hutchinson than feeling sorry for her.

She turned up to glee club in a very positive frame of mind which was diminished slightly as she saw that the only other person who was already in attendance was Quinn.

"I expect you heard that the dares are over now," Rachel said, taking a seat a few chairs away from the blonde.

Quinn gave her an indifferent look. "No, I wasn't aware."

Rachel was surprised. She thought Noah would have at least told Finn by now, who would've told Quinn.

"Oh, well, you were right," Rachel conceded.

Quinn nodded, as though it was obvious that she'd been right about their game. There was a couple of minutes of awkward silence before Quinn said, "I heard about what happened with you and Josh." She glanced down at the bruises encircling Rachel's wrist that were just visible beyond the hem of her sleeve. "I'm sorry that didn't work out."

"Um, thank you," Rachel said, but it came out as more of a question.

"Just because you're single again, I hope you're not going to be resuming your attempts to try and take my boyfriend away from me." Quinn warned and Rachel wondered what she meant.

Oh, right, _Finn._ With a jolt Rachel realised that she hadn't thought about Finn romantically at all for the last couple of weeks. How odd. Before she'd met Josh, Finn had been on her mind so often she'd been unable to see a future without Finn Hudson as her male lead in everything. Now, when she thought of Finn she didn't feel exactly nothing but it was considerably less and she didn't think she could be bothered to wait around for him. If he wasn't prepared to break things off with Quinn for her then he obviously wasn't good enough for her. Rachel Berry came second to no one.

"I don't think you really have anything to worry about there, Quinn," Rachel told her and the blonde girl looked at her suspiciously.

They sat in silence again for a couple of minutes before Mike and Matt came in. They greeted the girls before carrying on with their conversation.

"No, dude, I saw it with my own two eyes it was definitely three." Matt said.

"But how the hell did he carry three in one go?" Mike asked. "Those cups are huge!"

"He had one in each hand and sort of balanced the third one between them." Matt used his hands to demonstrate.

"Aw, man, I wish I could've seen it." Mike whined and Matt grinned.

"Seen what?" Quinn asked, her curiosity piqued.

Matt spared Rachel a glance before saying, "Puck doused Josh Hutchinson with three slushies at lunchtime today."

Rachel's mouth dropped open. "He did _what?_"

"Yeah, he just walked up behind Josh, chucked the slushies at him and walked off without another word." Matt explained.

"But, _why?_" Rachel asked.

Matt and Mike gave each other sheepish looks and Quinn looked at her as though she was stupid.

"Cos of what happened on Friday night, I suppose," Mike said uneasily. "Sorry about that, by the way."

Rachel waved it away. "Don't worry. It was nothing."

Mike nodded, though he didn't look completely reassured. A few other members of the glee club entered the room then and different conversations were started up but Rachel was left alone with her thoughts.

She was quite bemused by Noah's decision to slushie Josh. She didn't feel sorry for her ex-boyfriend, of course, but she just didn't really see the need that Noah had to do it. Perhaps he felt like a broken nose wasn't enough of a form of revenge.

She wasn't given long to ponder this turn of events because soon everyone had arrived and Mr Schuester was getting the rehearsal under way. She'd purposefully avoided looking anywhere near where Noah was seated because she honestly didn't know what to think about that boy right now. She'd made it her mission to not think about him all afternoon and until now she'd been reasonably successful.

Rachel put her hand up. "Mr Schuester, I have an announcement to make." She said and the glee director looked like he didn't really know how to react to that statement but he let her take to the floor anyway.

"As you all know, nearly two weeks ago I announced my wish to cease performing as a female lead in New Directions. I know this has caused a lot of disruption and stress to many of you and I fear that I am only going to be doing the same when I tell you all that I have reversed my decision." Kurt and Mercedes look extremely disappointed in this announcement but most everyone else looked pleased. She avoided looking at both Noah and Quinn because they, of course, knew the truth behind this change of heart. "I apologise most profusely for my fickleness and disregard for how my actions affected the team. While I do not expect to be given my previous parts back it would be nice to be considered for female leads in the future."

Mr Schuester looked very relieved and it made Rachel feel extremely guilty for how much worry she'd put him through. Still, it was over now and they still had a few weeks to get things polished before sectionals. "That's great news, Rachel. I'm glad you changed your mind." Rachel smiled, pleased once again that the game of dares was over. She could have admitted to the group that the reason she'd relinquished her leads in the first place was because of a dare, but she didn't think they'd appreciate knowing that she'd messed them around due to a game. "Well, seeing as we'll be able to get full use out of your voice again I suggest we do one of the songs that we haven't reallocated your lead in."

"There's only one," Kurt cut in quickly as though afraid that one of _his_ leads was to be given back to Rachel. "Against All Odds."

Rachel tried to prevent any horror from showing on her face. She did _not_ want to sing this song right now. She could not believe that out of all the parts that had not been reallocated, it had to be the lead that she shared with Noah. She was sure that fate was not her friend that day.

"Okay then, Rachel, Puck are you ready?" Mr Schuester asked. As much as Rachel didn't want to sing this song with Noah right now, it had been far too long since she'd gotten to sing lead so she wasn't about to turn up her nose at the opportunity. Plus, it would look rude if she refused to sing with Noah after he'd just slushied Josh Hutchinson in her defence.

"Of course, Mr Schuester," she said and Puck nodded before following her to the centre of the room.

She tensed as his arms wrapped around her, as their starting position dictated. She could feel her heartbeat quickening and she hoped that he couldn't notice it too. His whole body was emanating heat, warming her through her clothes and she'd never realised how pleasant he smelt. Even though she was tense she wanted nothing more than to lean back into his embrace…

She gave herself a mental shake. These were hardly appropriate thoughts (even though she used to have them about Finn all the time). She was a professional and she could put her feelings for Noah (whatever they may be) aside during the performance.

But that was easier said than done.

The choreography of the piece had them in close proximity with each other throughout. Every time Noah's skin made contact with hers a tingle went through her body and her cheeks were flushed.

And then there was the way that Noah was looking at her, singing to her!

His eyes were telling her something that she didn't want to think about. She didn't want to acknowledge that perhaps Noah felt more for her than just lust. No, she told herself, don't think about it, just sing the song.

Their first run through was nearly complete and Rachel was relieved because she was finding this performance _beyond_ awkward.

Finally, it was the last note but Rachel nearly stopped in shock when Noah sang the completely wrong note. He'd been singing perfectly in tune the whole way through the number so she wondered what had caused him to go wrong now.

Noah sent an apologetic look in Mr Schuester's direction but made no comment on his inaccurate note. He was looking at her strangely and Rachel was very confused at his unusual behaviour.

Noah sang perfectly well throughout the rest of the rehearsal but Rachel noticed that he didn't speak a single word. Was he refusing to talk to her after their conversation in the girls' bathroom that morning? She couldn't help but think that it was slightly childish of him, even if she could understand it.

The minutes until the end of rehearsal ticked by slowly and Rachel was anxious to get away from those confusing hazel eyes. But as she packed her things away and walked with out of the room with Santana and Brittany, she couldn't help but think that she was missing something as far as Noah Puckerman and his behaviour was concerned.

* * *

A/N What _is_ Rachel missing? Send you answers on a postcard! Or just mention them in a review :D

One chapter left! SO weird.

I honestly don't know when that one will be up. I'm going to be busy the next few days so we'll have to wait and see.

It felt like the humour was back more in this chapter. The angst is mostly gone. Yay.

Anyway, until next time!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXx


	14. Choices

Disclaimer: I do not own the 'Glee' world.

A/N So here we are guys; last chapter!

Lots of love to all those who reviewed/favourited/alerted this story : )

Well done to NeitherHaveIWings2Fly for being super clever and working out what Rachel was missing about Noah's behaviour. And special thanks to Vivilou for her kind words and support when I was a little blocked xXx

Anyway, on with the last chapter!

* * *

Chapter 14: Choices

Rachel Berry didn't sleep very well on Monday evening. All the thoughts that she could distract herself from in the daytime could not be so easily avoided when she was lying in bed. That doesn't mean that she didn't _try_ to keep them out of her head though. First of all she attempted to name a Broadway musical from A to Z to try and wind down her mind and induce herself into sleep. And so the list went: Annie, Billy Elliot, Chicago, Dreamgirls, Evita, Funny Girl, Guys and Dolls, Hairspray, Into the Woods, Jersey Boys, Kiss Me, Kate, Les Misérables, My Fair Lady, Nine, Oklahoma, Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Sound of Music, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Victor/Victoria and West Side Story. And then she had to stop because she couldn't think of any Broadway musicals beginning with X, Y or Z (or Q or U for that matter). It was highly frustrating to be so close to completing her list and she determined to look up an A-Z of musicals on the internet the next day.

Next, she worked on the template for her acceptance speech. It was formatted so that it could be used in any winning situation. She would start by thanking her parents for their love and support, then she would thank the academy or organisation that had given her the award, next it was her friends and fans. It would normally be rounded off with a thank you to her boyfriend/husband/life partner depending on the time in her life. For the last few months she had always imagined that it would be Finn looking at her with pride and adoration but Rachel found that she was over that particular fantasy now. She'd probably have replaced Finn with Josh in her thoughts had the latter not revealed his true colours. Now? That spot was empty, although her mind was trying to thrust a new person there instead so she decided to try something else to make herself fall asleep.

She switched her bedside lamp on and opted to do a spot of reading. She recalled that the old-fashioned language in Shakespeare's plays always made her head feel slightly lethargic so she climbed out of her nice warm bed and headed over to her bookcase. She shivered as the cold seeped into her body and grabbed something to put over her nightdress. It was only as the hem of the sweatshirt fell to far beyond her waist that she realised that this was the one that she had borrowed from Noah. She would take it off but it was far too cold in her room to consider. She located 'The Complete Works of William Shakespeare' among her books and took the large tome down before scurrying back to her bed to get her toes warm again.

She scanned the contents, wondering which one to pick. She supposed she should read one of his histories because she didn't find them very interesting and they would most likely send her to sleep the quickest but she couldn't bring herself to read one. Nor was she particularly in the mood for a tragedy so she turned towards the comedy section and after a brief consideration decided upon 'Much Ado About Nothing'. It was one of her favourites and she knew she was probably making a mistake in choosing it because she'd want to keep reading but she had made up her mind already and she was too anxious to read the banter between Beatrice and Benedick.

Beatrice was one of her favourite literary characters; she was passionate, intelligent, witty and loving. She was also rather disdainful towards men (at least at first) and Rachel wished that she could be this way too. It would make her life a lot easier if she did not fall for people so quickly. However that was a subject that she _didn't_ want to dwell on so she pressed on and started reading the play.

The minutes ticked by and Rachel discovered that reading 'Much Ado About Nothing' wasn't making her sleepy. In fact, she realised with horror that she had been imagining people from school in the place of the characters (Mr Schue as Leonato, Quinn as Hero, Finn as Claudio etc.). This in itself wasn't too bad, even if it was slightly strange, but what _was_ was that she had imagined herself as Beatrice and her Benedick? Noah Puckerman. It was a ridiculous comparison, really, because Noah and Benedick weren't particularly similar. Yes, they were both womanisers and Noah had returned some of her banter over the past few weeks but none of it was to the standard of the intelligent wit that Benedick produced. And the fact that Benedick and Beatrice's animosity evolved into love was enough to make Rachel snap her book shut and turn off her lamp. She placed the book carefully on the floor and screwed her eyes up tight.

Her next method to induce sleep was to try and say the thirty-seven times table in her head. She started quite well: 37, 74, 111, 148 and185. Her brain was definitely starting to get tired with the math. But then she got to 296 and her mind automatically reminded her that that was Noah's house number.

She buried her head under her pillow with a groan. There was nothing else for it; she was going to have to think about him.

The reason she'd been so reluctant to think about Noah was that this whole new situation he'd presented to her scared her. Not in the way that she'd been terrified on Friday night, this was a different kind of scared and she didn't like it one bit.

If (as she still hoped) Noah just wanted to sleep with her then she believed that this was less worrying as he would get over his lust soon enough. However, if as he insisted, Noah had genuine feelings for her then she honestly didn't know what to think.

This was _Noah Puckerman_ she was thinking about. Up until a few weeks ago he'd made her life miserable by publicly bullying her. If she'd seen Noah Puckerman in the corridor at the beginning of the year then she would purposefully turn in the other direction to avoid any unpleasantness.

He'd changed though. She knew he'd changed. This wasn't like with Josh where he'd cried 'peer pressure' and told her pretty stories about glee club making a difference. No, she _knew_ that Noah wasn't the bully that he once was; he'd stopped picking on the other students once he'd joined glee and he'd only briefly resumed his ways to compensate for the way the dares had affected his reputation.

It was just strange to try and think of Noah in a romantic fashion. The concept just didn't make sense in her brain. She would've never predicted this in a million years. But there was the possibility that this was true and she should think her feelings through, however weird it felt.

Perhaps it would be best to answer the easiest question first; did she find Noah sexually appealing?

There was no need to really think about it; yes. She'd always thought that he was attractive but his personality had always negated this. She shivered as she remembered the way it had felt to perform with him earlier in the day, the way his touch had made her skin tingle, how it had felt to be wrapped in his arms. She also recalled their first kiss together; she'd tried to hide it at the time (because she'd refused to let him see how he'd affected her) but she had enjoyed that kiss immensely. It was still one of the best she'd ever received. Her ones with Finn felt quite trivial now and every one she'd experienced with Josh appeared tainted after what had happened. So yes, the kiss with Noah was pretty special to her, despite the fact that he'd paid for it. But sexual appeal was not the only factor in deciding whether Noah Puckerman was a suitable romantic interest.

Noah's personality, while majorly improved from a few months ago, still had a lot of room for improvement. He was quite rude and was prone to using foul language and insults. She believed that the best word to describe him was uncouth. But she was able to recall when she'd gone round his house to shave off his ghastly Mohawk. She'd enjoyed being around him and spending time with him. Yes, he was quite rough around the edges but she didn't abhor being near him by any stretch of the imagination.

But then there were Noah's previous romantic experiences to consider; the way that he treated women in the past should give her an idea of what to expect him to be like with her. And unfortunately for Noah, this was not something that made him look good. Rachel knew that he was very experienced with women despite being only in his mid-teens. A vast majority of these 'experiences' seemed to be nothing more than hook-ups and if Noah expected her to follow this pattern then he'd be very disappointed. However she knew that Noah had had one 'proper' relationship and that had been with Santana during summer until the beginning of the school year. Well, she _said_ 'during' but the fact of the matter was that they had broken up at least half a dozen times during that period and shamelessly cheated on each other. It was a horror of a relationship for her to try and gauge Noah's dating potential and he probably couldn't have done a worse job if he'd tried.

It was true what she'd said to him in the girls' bathroom; he _could_ be a complete jerk sometimes and if he was liable to act that way towards her then it was unlikely that anything could grow between them. But if he _did_ completely change who he was then he just wouldn't be Noah Puckerman anymore and she didn't want to be responsible for completely altering someone's personality (even if it would make him a better person and other people would be very grateful) because she'd been trying to be someone that she wasn't and it hadn't been altogether enjoyable.

Her thoughts chased each other around and she eventually fell into an uneasy sleep. Her dreams were plagued by none other than, Noah Puckerman and there were many variations. There were dreams were he was romantic, dreams where they sang together, dreams where he was a jerk to her and even one that, when she recalled it in the morning, made her blush and bury her head under her pillow. Yes, that's correct; she'd had a _sex dream _about Noah Puckerman. From the little she could remember it hadn't been particularly graphic and she knew that it was natural to have those sorts of dreams at her age but it was still embarrassing. She wasn't sure she'd be able to look at Noah today without blushing.

She bypassed the elliptical that morning and instead sat at the kitchen counter nursing her first ever cup of coffee. It tasted horrible and she could practically feel her teeth rotting due to the amount of sugar she'd stirred into it to improve the taste but she needed something to try and get her through the day. Her fathers chattered around her as they ate breakfast and got ready for work and if they noticed her subdued mood then they didn't mention it. However, each gave her a slightly longer hug than usual when they left and she was silently grateful for it.

Rachel arrived at her locker still quite bleary-eyed and it took her a few seconds to realise that there was something stopping her from opening it. A couple of folded sheets of paper had been taped to the front of the locker. She frowned at the offending article, wondering what it was doing there. Had someone put it there by accident, thinking it was someone else's locker? Somehow she doubted it. With a feeling of foreboding she plucked the paper off her locker and unfolded the paper.

She blinked.

She blinked again, to make sure that her lack of sleep wasn't affecting her eyesight. But, no, it appeared that she was holding Noah's history midterm.

Quite honestly, she was concerned for the boy's sanity.

Why on earth would he have taped one of his midterms to her locker? It made absolutely no sense whatsoever and she was too tired to try and think about what his motives might be for showing her his abysmal effort in history. She sincerely hoped that her spurning of his advances hadn't unhinged him but she couldn't rule the possibility out.

So she kept an eye out for him as she moved between the first couple of lessons. Her concentration in said lessons was well below her average but she couldn't help it. She thought that it might actually make her feel better to see him – to _see_ that he wasn't acting crazy, because she was feeling very jumpy at the prospect.

Her wish was granted in the changeover between third and fourth period because she spotted him further down the corridor. She was only able to catch a glimpse of him though because the area was quite busy with other students. She pushed herself through the throng until she came towards where Noah was. The sight that greeted her was reassuringly familiar (even if it wasn't particularly pleasant).

Noah was firmly holding Jacob Ben Israel against a row of lockers, the latter with a look of terror upon his face.

Perhaps someone else had taped Noah's midterm to her locker then (though goodness knew why) because Noah seemed to be back to his old self.

She was about to leave because she didn't particularly feel like seeing Noah bully Jacob but before she could, Noah seemed to sense her presence and he glanced at her. She wasn't too sure what to read from the expression on his face but he seemed to be pleased that she was there.

And then, before she could even blink, Noah did something that Rachel would have _sworn_ would never happen in a million different universes.

Noah kissed Jacob Ben Israel.

Stunned. She was absolutely stunned, as was everyone else around her. She honestly could not believe what her eyes had just perceived.

So much for Noah going back to acting normally…

It had been a peck, Noah's lips touching Jacob's for the briefest of moments, but a kiss was still a kiss.

If anything, Jacob looked more terrified now than before but Noah let him go as soon as the 'incident' had occurred. Noah stalked away, wiping his mouth distastefully and he seemed to bump into Rachel's shoulder intentionally, making her stagger.

Rachel was at a complete loss as to what to think. None of Noah's behaviour made any sort of sense to her. She honestly couldn't think of _why_ he'd want to kiss Jacob. He'd made so much fuss about having to kiss Finn as part of their kiss dares so why would he voluntarily kiss Jacob? Even _she'd_ had to be dared to kiss him…_oh_.

It suddenly dawned on her. _Her dares!_ Everything that Noah had been doing in the last twenty four hours had been the same as the dares he'd set her! He'd slushied a jock (Josh), he hadn't spoken to anyone (only sung) and he'd sung an incorrect note. Then this morning he'd stuck that midterm to her locker to show that he'd failed and now he'd just kissed Jacob Ben Israel.

She breathed a slight sigh of relief, glad that she'd found the pattern to Noah's behaviour but the big question was; _why _was he doing her dares?

* * *

Puck was able to get through fourth period without too much hassle but he knew that the rest of the day probably wouldn't be so easy. The gossip would be spread throughout the school during lunch and then the whispers and stares would follow him.

He honestly didn't give a fuck.

The bell rang for the end of the lesson and he grabbed his shit. He wasn't exactly eager to face the shitstorm that was likely to come his way but he wasn't gonna hide from it either.

He shoved his crap in his locker and slammed the door shut.

"I know what you're doing," Berry's voice said from behind him, nearly making him jump. Yeah, he was in major like with the girl but that didn't mean she still didn't scare him on occasion. He turned around to face her, noticing that she looked totally dishevelled which was probably because of his actions.

"Good." He said simply. "I didn't particularly want to have Coach Sylvester rip my fucking balls off if I asked to try out for the Cheerios and I don't think your gold hot pants would fit me, either. I just wish you'd figured it out before that Jewfro thing. Still, we can't _all_ be intellectuals, Berry." She raised her eyebrows and he knew that the intellectual thing was going a bit far – he really wasn't that clever. What he _didn't_ know was why he was giving her shit when he was trying to make a good point.

She cleared her throat and shook her head slightly. "Yes, well, I know that you're carrying out the dares you set for me but I don't really understand why."

He leant back against his locker and crossed his arms over his chest, just looking at her. She blushed under his gaze and a part of him felt very smug about that. "I'll let you in on a little secret, Berry." He beckoned her forward with his hand, "C'mere." She seemed to blush even more and she stared at him with wide eyes as she took a couple of tentative steps forward. "Closer," he said quietly and she moved so that she was standing right in front of him, barely an inch separating their bodies. He could see her chest rising and falling dramatically and he made himself concentrate before his dick overrode his brain. He leant his head down next to hers and brushed a few strands of her silky dark hair away from her ear. He could feel her breath on the side of his neck and he willed himself not to lose focus. "I don't give a _fuck_ about my reputation," he whispered and he felt her shudder next to him.

He pulled back so that he could look at her and was damn fucking glad to see that she was totally hot for him. Her eyes were, like, black and she was breathing all heavy. He wanted to save the image in his memory forever so that if he never actually got things together with Berry then at least he had this proof here that she was attracted to him (It might seem stupid because, like, every girl wanted to fuck him but Berry had given him some major doubt in the past.).

"The fuckers in this school can think whatever the fuck they like about why I did the dares in the first place. I don't need to give them an excuse for my actions 'cause I don't give a shit what they think about me anymore. If I want to sing a song dressed as a chick then that's my fucking business, not theirs. I'm my own fucking person, Berry and I'm not gonna let these fuckers determine my life. So if you're using my 'concern' for my reputation as a reason for us not to be together then, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but that's now utter bullshit." She opened her mouth to speak but he put his hand over her lips. "No, you need to listen to me now." Her eyes widened in shock and he could detect a little bit of outrage too but he ignored her. "You didn't give me a chance yesterday and that's not fucking fair.

"Look, when I said those things about you yesterday, you know, about how you're a bit crazy and stuff, well I was gonna say that that stuff didn't really bother me and shit. And I know this still isn't like a pansy declaration of love or some crap like that which you'd much prefer but I'm doing this my way. Now, I know you might not remember all that much of Friday night given how fucking wasted you were, but there are things I _do_ like about you too and you're like, special to me and shit. I'm not the guy that's going to write poetry for you and I'm not gonna give you a fluffy teddy bear with my name on it – we both know that's not me. But I'd treat you proper," he winced, that didn't sound impressive. This shit was seriously hard, especially seeing as he'd never done it before. Her lips were hot against the palm of his hand and he was itching to replace it with his own lips but he was determined not to let her speak until he'd said all that he wanted to say. "I'm a bit of an asshole and my record with chicks probably looks like complete shit to you but you've gotta believe me when I say I'd never act that way with you. You matter to me. A lot. _A_ _helluva lot, _and I don't ever want to be an asshole to you again."

His hand covered her lower face so he didn't exactly how she was reacting to his little speech. All he could see was that she was staring back at him with wide eyes and that didn't exactly tell him a lot. Maybe a change of strategy was in order – the last couple of minutes had been rather fucking girly so he needed to man up a little bit and tell Berry what the world could be like for them.

"We'd be fucking awesome together, babe and you know it. Whether you want to admit it or not, you're a _total_ badass when you want to be and if we got together then us badassess could fucking rule this school. Forgot Finn and Quinn, we'd have the rest of the school eating out of the palm of our hands, you know, if we wanted them to or we can make our own popularity and screw all the rest of them. D'you really think that anyone's gonna mess with you when you've got this stud on your arm?" He asked, motioning to himself. He could see a spark of amusement in her eyes and it made him feel a little bit more optimistic. "I guess I've kinda said all that I wanted to," he mumbled and took his hand off of her mouth. His heart started beating even more furiously than it already had been. He wasn't really sure if he wanted to hear what she had to say – he'd never exactly put himself out there to get hurt this way before.

"Um, I don't really know what to say," Berry murmured.

"That's a first," he joked, weakly, already feeling like there were a dozen stones in his stomach.

She indulged him with a small smile. "Noah, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel anything for you." That was a good start and yet he couldn't help feel that there was going to be a 'but' coming soon. "And you've become a quite important person in my life but," he winced, "this isn't something that I can instantaneously answer. Our history, particularly recently, is quite muddled and I'd be doing you a disservice if I rushed into an answer. Things have only just ended with Josh, after all."

Puck nodded, his throat feeling constricted. "Course, I don't want you to do anything you're not ready for." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "But, you know, if you could give me some sort of sign of what you're feeling soon. I'm not exactly a patience sorta guy."

She nodded. "Yes of course, Noah, I'll do my best." The silence that followed was kinda awkward and Puck figured that he needed to go do something manly to make up for this whole conversation (and, you know, 'cause people were gonna think he was gay after the Jacob kiss).

"Later, Berry," he muttered as he walked off down the corridor.

"Goodbye, Noah," he heard her whisper softly and he tried to tell himself that not getting an answer didn't mean that she was going to say no.

* * *

Rachel rang the doorbell with a feeling of dread. This was one of the last places she wanted to be right now. There was the sound of approaching footsteps and then the door was opened to reveal a rather dishevelled looking Hannah Puckerman.

"Oh, Rachel, thank goodness, come on in." Noah's mother said as she ushered Rachel inside the house. "Sorry again about having to ask you to babysit – I wouldn't have done it if there was another alternative. Noah probably would've agreed to skip practice but it's important for him to keep his attendance up if he doesn't want to get kicked off the team. He should be back in a couple of hours so feel free to leave once he arrives. It's only a short shift so I won't be away for too long." This was all said very quickly and Hannah Puckerman was soon stepping out of the door, car keys in hand. "I'll talk to you soon, Rachel love." She promised, giving her a kiss on the cheek before calling, "Bye Sarah!" and closing the front door.

Rachel sighed and hung up her coat. Part of her wished that she was able to turn people down when they asked favours of her but really, it wasn't going to hurt her to watch over Sarah for a couple of hours. It would be awkward when Noah got home though, seeing as she hadn't given him an answer to his unasked question from yesterday.

She'd been avoiding him ever since that conversation because she didn't know what to say to him. She was still undecided.

"Hey Rachel!" Sarah cried, running forwards to wrap her arms around Rachel's waist.

"Hello, Sarah," she replied fondly, giving the girl a gentle squeeze back. Sarah peered around her.

"Is your boyfriend coming today?" she asked and Rachel felt the familiar chill run through her that she experienced whenever Josh was mentioned.

"No, he's not my boyfriend anymore," she told Sarah and the little girl grinned.

"Oh, good. I didn't really like him." Sarah informed her as she walked back through the house to where the television was.

"Well, anyway," Rachel said, changing the topic, "what did you want to do until Noah gets home?"

"Can we watch _Beauty and the Beast_?" Sarah asked. "I wanted to watch it with Noah the other day but he wouldn't let me."

Rachel smiled. "Yes, I don't think it's exactly Noah's cup of tea. Of course we can watch it."

Sarah brought out the DVD along with a manicure set and Rachel dutifully treated Sarah's nails as the film got underway.

"Do you hate, Noah?" Sarah bluntly asked her about twenty minutes into the film and Rachel nearly dropped the bottle of nail polish in shock.

"What? No, of course I don't hate, Noah. What on earth made you think that?" Rachel asked.

"Noah said he thinks you hate him." Sarah shrugged.

"Oh," Rachel frowned as something twisted her stomach. "When did he say that?"

"Last week after you babysat me with your boyfriend." Sarah explained. "Why did he think you hated him?"

"Um, well, Noah and I had had a disagreement." Rachel explained and she internally cringed as she remembered telling Noah that she hated him. Why did she have to be so dramatic all the time? And to think that Noah'd had feelings for her at that time – it just made her feel even worse. "It was just a silly argument."

Sarah nodded, "Yeah, he's a bit of a jerkface sometimes but he's not that bad all the time."

Rachel smiled. "I know."

They watched the film in comfortable silence again until the part where Belle and the Beast start to fall in love.

"You and Noah are like _Beauty and the Beast_," Sarah said and Rachel laughed.

"While I'm glad you think I'm like Belle, I don't think Noah would appreciate you calling him a Beast!"

Sarah giggled. "No, I mean you're a bit like the characters. You're pretty and nice and you've got brown hair and you can sing really good. But Noah's all grumpy and can be mean." The little girl frowned. "Or maybe he's more like Gaston because his character's mean too and he thinks all the girls love him." Sarah sighed. "I suppose it doesn't really make much difference because both of them love Belle."

Rachel froze, her heart beating strongly in her chest. She stared at Sarah. "What do you mean?"

Sarah had that look on her face like she knew she shouldn't really be talking about this but she said, "I think Noah loves you."

Rachel knew she shouldn't get carried away with the words of an eight year old – she was pretty sure that Noah would never admit his feelings to his kid sister so it was most probably not true.

"He's been having dreams about you," Sarah continued. "I think they were nightmares because I heard him kicking around in his sheets when I went to the bathroom and I heard him say your name and he sounded really upset. And on Saturday we drove round all morning looking for you but I don't really know why."

Rachel opened her mouth to make some sort of response and then closed it again because she didn't know what to say. A part of her was horrified that she was discussing her love life with Noah Puckerman's eight year old sister but another part was almost pleased that she had some proof of Noah's feelings from another person. The slight part of her that had been suspicious that he'd been sweet talking her to purely make her want to sleep with him all but died. She felt slightly bad for thinking that way in the first place but Noah's previous attitude to women was enough for her to question his sincerity.

"Do you love _him?"_ Sarah asked and Rachel sighed.

"Let's not talk about Noah, sweetie. Look, they're about to dance together."

Sarah reluctantly turned back to the film and Rachel was left alone with her thoughts. These thoughts had been chasing each other around for the last couple of days and it seemed they weren't going to be stopping soon.

She tried to focus purely on the film because she was _sick_ of thinking things through. Beauty and the Beast was one of her favourite Disney films so she should be able to enjoy it. But as things came to a climax she couldn't help but compare the characters of Gaston and the Beast because, as Sarah had said, Noah had similar traits to both of them. The worst of Noah was most definitely more like Gaston – the cruel man who liked to bully those he considered weaker than himself and the womaniser who had a string of female conquests (and was quite full of himself). But the best of Noah was more like the Beast – the way he'd come to her rescue to fend off Josh, how he'd tried to protect her from Josh by attempting to dare her to keep away from him and how he'd sacrificed his reputation to show that he wanted to be with her no matter what other people might think.

"He's the beast," she whispered quietly but Sarah must have heard her because she grinned at Rachel and cuddled up next to her.

The front door was opened and then slammed shut and Rachel tensed. "I won't tell Noah what we talked about if you don't," she whispered to Sarah and the other girl nodded quickly, obviously fearing Noah's wrath if he found out that she'd been talking about him to Rachel.

"Mom?" Noah called before walking into their vicinity and then he stopped abruptly.

"Your mother had to go into work, Noah and she asked me to watch over Sarah so that you wouldn't have to miss football." Rachel explained. Seeing him again after steadfastly avoiding him reminded her of the way he had whispered into her ear during their last conversation and she could feel herself blushing already.

"Oh, right." He replied and Rachel hated the awkwardness that there was between them.

"The film will be over in a few minutes and then I'll go," she said.

"Um, okay. I'll just be up in my room," he muttered and left.

Rachel leant her head back against the couch and closed her eyes. She needed to hurry up and make up her mind. It really wasn't fair to keep Noah waiting like this.

She wished there was a way that they could just be friends for a while because everything felt like it was moving so fast. But she knew that was unlikely to happen; Noah didn't really 'do' being friends with girls.

She sighed. She was just so unsure of everything. Thanks to Josh she would probably never go into a relationship feeling completely sure about someone. But, maybe that was a good thing? Flinging yourself completely into a relationship without any caution only invited disaster and heartbreak.

Rachel could hear the floorboards creaking above her head as Noah moved around. She felt like she knew Noah Puckerman quite well – he was who he was and as he'd proven to her on numerous occasions he wasn't afraid to live life how he wanted to. She thought back on what had stopped her from considering Noah as a viable romantic partner. Firstly there was the personality. Yes, he wasn't perfect, but after the disasters of her infatuations with Finn and Josh, she realised that there wasn't such a thing as perfect. Her relationship with Josh had been built on a complete lie and Finn's unwillingness to leave Quinn for her meant that he wasn't good enough. So maybe a change of scene was needed. Noah was Noah and she knew who she was. She didn't have an overly pleasing personality either and if Noah could get past hers than Rachel could get past his. Someone was offering her the opportunity to be loved and how often was that likely to happen to her?

The film ended and Sarah sat up to stretch her arms. "So, I guess you're going now, huh?"

"Yes, I suppose so." Rachel rose to her feet. "Do you want me to put another film on for you?"

Following Sarah's request, Rachel popped _Lady and the Tramp_ into the DVD player.

"You're a bit like Lady and Noah's like the Tramp," Sarah told her and Rachel laughed. While she was more than happy to be called 'Beauty' and 'Lady' she highly doubted that Noah would like being compared to a 'Beast' and now a 'Tramp'.

Rachel was about to think through the compatibility between herself and Noah and that of Lady and the Tramp before she realised that she was being utterly ridiculous. First it had been Beatrice and Benedick, then Belle and the Beast and now Lady and the Tramp. She shouldn't make comparisons between herself and fictional characters. Their love stories were works of _fiction_ and shouldn't been compared to real life. She and Noah were completely different people – their lives wouldn't follow some fairy tale, even if Noah _had_ been her knight in shining armour.

"I'm just going to pop to the bathroom, okay?" Rachel said but Sarah was already engrossed in the movie and paid her no attention.

Rachel climbed the stairs as quietly as possible so that Noah wouldn't know she was there. She knew she was a coward for leaving without saying anything to him but she didn't feel ready to give him an answer yet.

She was about to descend the stairs again, having completed her visit to the bathroom when the sound of music came from Noah's door. It sounded like a guitar and, her curiosity piqued, she tiptoed over to his door to see what he was doing. His door was slightly ajar and she pushed it gently to give her a clearer view.

He was sitting on his bed with his back to her, strumming on a guitar. She didn't know that Noah could play the guitar and she watched silently as his hand expertly moved up and down the neck to create the different chords. She was transfixed already and then he started to sing.

_I'm not a perfect person  
There's many things I wish I didn't do  
But I continue learning  
I never meant to do those things to you  
And so I have to say before I go  
That I just want you to know_

_I've found a reason for me  
To change who I used to be  
A reason to start over new  
and the reason is you_

Rachel's heart was beating so hard and fast that she thought that it was going to break right through her chest. She had never heard Noah sing so beautifully before and the anguish in his voice was making her stomach turn over. She took a breath and stepped into the room.

_I'm sorry that I hurt you  
It's something I must live with everyday  
And all the pain I put you through  
I wish that I could take it all away  
And be the one who catches all your tears  
Thats why i need you to hear_

Puck heard the footsteps before he saw her but he carried on playing, not at all embarrassed that she had caught him singing. Singing about _her_. He didn't know what to make of the expression on her face – she was staring at him with wide eyes again so he just continued.

___I've found a reason for me  
To change who I used to be  
A reason to start over new  
and the reason is you_

Her eyes held him captive as she came to a stop in front of him; he couldn't blink or look away. He could only stare and sing.

_And the reason is you._

The note eventually faded from his throat but neither of them moved for a few seconds. Puck didn't know what was going on but he had a feeling that it was important. Berry took a couple of steps forward and he put his guitar against his bed, all without breaking eye contact. She was looking into his eyes as though she was searching for something and he didn't want to be found wanting.

Berry moved forward a bit more and she was practically standing between his legs. He wanted her to say or do something because a silent Rachel Berry was just unnatural but another part of him didn't want this moment to end. It was super intense and unlike anything he'd ever felt with anyone else.

Berry placed her left hand on his shoulder and ran her other hand over the left side of his head, leaving a trail of goosebumps. And then she leant forwards and kissed him.

It was like her lips had flicked an internal switch within him because one minute he was pretty cold and now it was like he was on fire. He tried not to get his hopes up though – this didn't necessarily mean anything. Sometimes a kiss was just a kiss. But if this _was_ a pity kiss then he was going to make the most of it. He placed one of his hands at the small of her back and pushed her gently and she complied so that they could like back on the bed. Her hair tickled against his face and he used his other hand to brush some of the silky strands away. She tasted just as good as the first time they had kissed and he hoped that he would never forget this moment.

After a few more heavenly seconds Berry pulled her mouth away but still lay over him, her weight supported by her hands either side of his head. Puck's stomach filled with nerves at the anticipation of what was to happen next. This was it.

"I thought I said that I didn't want you to change," Berry said softly, her eyes searching his face again.

"I'm not gonna change much, Berry, but I thought you'd _rather_ I stopped acting like a dick to women, if that's okay with you." She kissed him chastely in response and he was trying so fucking hard not to think about how positive things were looking. Life could still kick him in the nads if it wanted to.

Despite his fears he asked her, "So, um, Berry, what does this mean?"

She smiled at him and kissed along his jaw towards his ear. "What do you think it means?" she whispered and he full on shivered liking a fucking virgin before she kissed him full on. With tongue. Hells, yeah.

"You're sure?" he panted when they came apart for some air, as he casually stroked her lower back.

"No," she replied, brutally honest as always, but she smiled and shrugged. "But that's okay."

And that was good enough for him.

They carried on making out for a while until they heard a car door slam shut.

"Shit, I think that's my mom," Puck said, groaning as Rachel clambered off of him. He was fucking glad that he had stamina and a lot of self-control because that session with Rachel had been one of the hottest of his life.

"Oh, goodness, I told Sarah I was going to leave forty-five minutes ago!" Rachel cried, running her fingers through her hair to detangle any knots _his _fingers may have created. "What on earth is she going to think when she sees me?"

"Hey, that little squirt's nothing compared to what Mom'll say if she sees us coming down the stairs together." Puck said as he stood behind her and bent down to kiss her cheek. "She'll totally get overexcited."

Rachel laughed and turned her head to kiss him. "I dare you to tell her that we're engaged."

Puck pulled back from her. "Rach, as happy as I am that that game has brought us together, I'd prefer it if I never heard those three words ever again."

She grinned. "Deal."

And then he kissed her some more.

_~Fin~_

* * *

A/N So that's that! Many thanks for your support throughout this fic. Your suggestions really did shape this story for me and it wouldn't have been the same without you.

The song that Puck sings is 'The Reason' by Hoobastank. I think that the lyrics sum up their history ridiculously well.

Although this is the end of this story, I do have other ones on the go which will be getting updated now that 'I Dare You' is finished so I encourage you to check them out.

Thanks for reading!

Lots of love,

Lil Drop of Magic

xXxXx


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